Staff Reporter :
The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Sunday said, the government virtually does not have any control over gold trade in the country.
The gold market is controlled mainly by gold and jewelry traders. It is high time to frame a comprehensive policy on gold import and trade in the country to check smuggling, it said.
The gold sector has no accountability, pays no importance to maintain documentation, but to smuggling, while ice of irregularities and corruption also exist in various stages thereof, the TIB said.
Executive Director of TIB Iftekharuzzaman said these in a press briefing at its headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday.
TIB Director, Research and Policy, Mohammad Rafiqul Hassan revealed its study on “Transparency and Accountability in the Gold Sector in Bangladesh.”
Iftekharuzzaman urged the government for withdrawing duty on gold import to get the nation rid of the smuggling and to bring transparency in the domestic market.
Reduction of duty as well as framing of policy on gold import will encourage import of the metal through legal channels and to reduce smuggling and also to create a facilitating environment for gold trading in the country where Tk 25 crore worth gold is transacted per day.
“We have a big gold market in the country. So, we do not want the sector to be dependent on gold smuggling and unethical means,” he said.
The anti-graft watchdog said gold smuggling into the country continues with the help of a section of officials of law enforcing agencies, land port authorities, Biman and of private airlines. It said smuggling ring has role to hinder drafting a comprehensive policy on gold import and trade in the country.
“We are pursuing a destructive dual policy. On the one hand, we are allowing illegally imported gold in the domestic market. On the other hand, we have not yet made a policy to ensure proper import and trade of the metal,” the executive director said.
The government is yet to frame a comprehensive policy to facilitate easy and faster import of the gold through legal channel, the study said.
