Capital flight has become a matter of serious concern for Bangladesh’s economy. According to local and international reports, thousands of crores of taka are being laundered from the country fraudulently by corrupt politicians, dishonest high government officials and businessmen, who have invested their ill-gotten money abroad, to ensure a secure future for their families. This hard cash could have been invested for the country’s development. In recent years, they have syphoned off huge amounts of money to Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and some other countries. It is unfortunate to see that these foreign countries are also responsible for this crime. These countries talk about transparency but unfortunately they do not provide any information, if sought, about the immigrants’ questionable money. They follow double standards.
How much money gets laundered through various channels is also exactly not known to our central bank. However, a Washington-based research body Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in its report ‘Illicit Financial Flows’ mentioned that $61.63 billion has been laundered from Bangladesh from 2005 to 2014. Last year, around $5.8 billion was laundered out of the country, according to reports. The High Court in a suo moto rule in November last year directed the country’s intelligence agencies and various government establishments to stop money laundering and submit details of those involved in the crime. The directive came following reports on syphoning off money and comments by political leaders on the issue of Begum Para in Toronto, Canada and the second home scheme in Malaysia. By 2018, about 40,956 migrants from Bangladesh settled in Canada, reports say.
Now the big question is, does the government really want to curb money laundering? Unfortunately, despite rhetoric of ‘zero tolerance’ against corruption, there is no sustained initiative in this direction. We often hear about ‘war against corruption’ from the government party leaders. While hardworking people of Bangladesh – the emerging middle-class, professionals, expatriate workers and peasants – have been carrying forward the country’s advancement through tireless efforts, a coterie of powerful upper-class people are laundering money. We would say the Bangladesh Bank should address the issue of swindling money abroad. Again, illegal outflow of money can be effectively checked only if accountability and transparency can be established at all levels of the administration.
