UNB, Dhaka :The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to set up a separate cell to collect information about money laundering and its siphoning off.The cell, to be set up under NBR’s Income Tax wing, will gather information about foreign commercial organisations, the incomes of dual passport holders and the techniques of their sending out money from Bangladesh.While different agencies across the world are now effectively working to collect information regarding money laundering and help imposing tax, the NBR could not make any significant move in this regard due to legal and administrative weakness and capacity constraint.The NBR has come up with the decision to form the cell in line with the Finance Minister’s directive in his last budget speech. “The government is planning to establish an income tax cell to collect information regarding money laundering and scrutinise the income of dual citizens which will eventually build capacity to discharger responsibilities regarding international tax matters,” he said in his budget speech.A senior NBR official told UNB that on September 28 an unofficial note from Income Tax Policy was sent to the Tax Administration and Human Resource Management in this regard.Last year, the NBR had decided to trace Bangladeshi citizens having ‘second homes’ and investment abroad in a bid to check their tax payment status here.Then NBR chairman Ghulam Hussain in a programme told that the taxmen would communicate with the Malaysian High Commission soon for exchanging information on the Bangladeshi owners of ‘second homes’ in Malaysia. He also instructed the taxmen to communicate with four countries, Malaysia, Canada, Dubai and Qatar, to find out the capital flying from Bangladesh. According to Malaysian rules, to settle there under the programme, one needs to deposit liquid assets worth at least RM 500,000 (about Tk 1.22 crore) and show offshore income of RM 10,000 (about Tk 2.45 lakh) per month.According to an unofficial data, there are over 10,000 Bangladeshi ‘second home’ owners in Malaysia.Most of the money was channelled through informal ways as Bangladesh’s central bank does not allow its citizens to take such big amounts abroad without its approval. The NBR official said thousands of money laundering cases could be filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) if the government can collect correct information on money laundering.”We have agreements to exchange taxpayers’ information with some 33 countries. The agreements will be scrutinised to find out bottlenecks in sharing of information,” he said.The NBR official said the separate cell will be dedicated to unearth such money laundering incidents to check the money outflow from Bangladesh. “Such activities will also help the national exchequer to fetch more revenue.”
