Business Desk :
The economic downturn, triggered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has created a hole through which money launderers and fraudsters seek to amass huge sums of cash by resorting to illicit trade, including financial crime and security experts warn.
In many cases, criminals and terrorists are attempting to profit by posing as genuine businesses, an ominous symptom that signals the ongoing pandemic might lead to an increase in organised crime.
In view of the whole situation, financial security experts recommend collective efforts are required, including across law-enforcement agencies, to combat illicit trade in order to generate national revenue and accelerate the country’s economic recovery and development activities.
Furthermore, regulatory bodies must consider whether current internal control and compliance frameworks can identify COVID-19 related fraud and illegal activities. Firms must be able to satisfy regulators by demonstrating updated risk procedure and internal control mechanisms to reduce risks of any possible financial crime, they added.
“Trade-based money laundering is mostly committed in Bangladesh. The government is firmly committed to tackling this serious issue to save its economy,” said Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan, Head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the Bangladesh Bank.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we instructed banks and other financial institutions to take strict measures so that none can take advantage of the new circumstance,” he added.
Referring to a recent study, he informed, around 80 percent of illegal capital flight globally takes place through illicit trade, or around 60 percent in Bangladesh.
“Developing nations are mostly vulnerable to such risks as it has become a major threat to their growth and sustainable development. Taking these into consideration, Bangladesh is fully committed to remain at the forefront of global efforts to fight Trade Based Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (TBML/TF) risks,” he added.
Against this backdrop, considering the fact that international trade transactions are mainly held through banking system of the country, BFIU has issued guidelines for banks suggesting they establish appropriate measures and techniques to combat TBML/TF, he said.
Earlier, at the beginning of 2020, Director General of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) Muhammad Mubinul Kabir told the media that global trade was disrupted by the emergence of Coronavirus (COVID-19), a pandemic that has devastated normal life in all parts of the world.
The government of Bangladesh has responded to the pandemic with a comprehensive set of measures, including travel restrictions, social distancing measures, strict hygiene protocols and direct interventions in national economies, he added.
