Abu Sazzad :The government is going to form four members committee with a view to effectively preventing terror financing and gold smuggling from the country. The committee will include representatives of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC).The proposed committee will have two units and carry their duties under the existing money laundering prevention and terror financing act. Dr M Aslam Alam, Secretary of Banking and Financial Institution Division of the Finance Ministry confirmed the matter to the reporters on Tuesday in the secretariat after a discussion meeting on ‘Prevention of Money Laundering and Terror Financing’.Actually, incidents of suspected money laundering and terrorist financing have been on rise in the last few years in the country despite several preventive measures taken by the government. In this situation, the government has taken more proactive and strict policies against terror financing and gold smuggling, said the secretary. “We have reviewed government initiatives against money laundering and terror financing, he also said. Corruption is one of the major components of the money laundering activities, he said adding that the initiative of ACC is appreciable since they have filed several cases against money laundering and terror financing, said the secretary. “But there has been no case in connection with human trafficking and gold smuggling under the present money laundering act”, he mentioned.At the same time, the ACC has also filed many cases under the anti-terrorism act to check terror activities in the country. Actually, anything related to terror financing should be addressed for the security and betterment of the country, said the secretary. The representatives of Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) will arrive in Dhaka by October and they will stay more than one week. The BFIU will investigate the activities of the related institutions working against money laundering and terror financing before their arrival, said the secretary.Money laundering is not the meaning of sending money to the Swiss Bank. All kinds of illegally earning are considered money laundering, pointed the secretary. So far some 255 cases have been filed against the 285 complains involving Tk 1,000 crore, he said.
