WHEN laundering money is as easy as slicing a cake and the money is safe abroad, why anyone would want to legalise their black money is a question that seems to have no answer. Even if one wants to do so, he/she is discouraged by the complex legal structure and the revenge filled political culture in the country. The money siphoning off the country catches attention as the number of Bangladeshis enrolling in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme has increased significantly. Keeping the central bank in dark, the well-off people have been siphoning money off the country for many years, leaking out capital thus contributing to further declines in the level of investment in the country.
Reportedly during 2011-2013, some 949 Bangladeshi citizens settled in Malaysia, and in the first four months of the current year, the number of such persons stood at 119. Till April this year, a total of 2,874 Bangladeshis enrolled on the MM2H programme, meaning at least Tk 3,506 crore was taken away from Bangladesh. Political unrest centering on the January 5 election prompted many to launder their undisclosed money to other countries, and possible future political unrest due to takeover of power by Awami League without securing people’s mandate also encouraged the well-off to launder their money to a secure zone.
The Bangladeshis started to take up the MM2H offer in 2003 when 32 citizens chose to settle in Malaysia under the programme, the report said. Bangladesh also ranks third on the list of foreigners making Malaysia their ‘second home’, after China and Japan, and the number is four times higher than those from Pakistan and India. According to the Malaysian government rules, to settle there under the programme, one needs to deposit liquid assets worth at least Tk 1.22 crore and show offshore income of about Tk 2.45 lakh per month. That means billions of dollars has already been laundered off the country to Malaysia through informal channels as the Bangladesh Bank does not allow its citizens to take such big amounts abroad without its approval.
The central bank tried to get the list of Bangladeshis from the Malaysian government, but failed. However, Malaysia declined to give the list of our citizens who enrolled on the programme, saying it is a confidential matter.
According to a December 2013 study by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based organization, $16 billion of illicit capital left Bangladesh between 2002 and 2011 and it keeps on increasing due to our revenge filled political culture. This is frustrating that asking banking to do what is necessary is proving futile. It is going to hold seminar in Singapore to tell outsiders about golden opportunities they have in Bangladesh. Our government cannot realise how it is being treated as naive. The foreign investors know more about the investment situation in Bangladesh. It cannot be a matter of propaganda. They also know how Bangladeshis are not safe with their money and taking their own money out.
