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a year ago

Bringing back laundered money: National body likely to decide work plan today

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The National Coordination Committee on Anti-money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) is set to hold a meeting today (Tuesday).

The meeting is expected to decide its work plan for bringing back the laundered money from abroad, including Swiss banks, sources said.

Besides, the meeting is expected to discuss the prepared guidelines, including early recovery of the siphoned off money, and implementation progress of the national strategy paper in this regard.

This 27th meeting will be held virtually, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

The committee members from the different ministries and state agencies, including Bangladesh Bank, would join the meeting, said a source.

The authorities are trying to bring back the laundered money and taking steps, but there is no visible progress in this regard so far, he added.

According to sources at Bangladesh Bank, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has repeatedly sought information from different countries, including Switzerland, about money laundered by Bangladeshis.

According to data from Global Financial Integrity, the amount of money laundered annually through invoice fraud during the 2008-15 period was US$8.2 billion.

On an average, more than $ 7.50 billion is said to be siphoned off annually through trade miss-invoicing and illegal money outflow, an official said.

Around Tk 730 billion is laundered from Bangladesh every year through gold smuggling, Bangladesh Jewellers' Association (BAJUS) claimed at a recent press conference.

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