NEWS reports on Thursday highlighted how eleven commercial banks are involved in external trade-based money laundering under the cover exports and imports. The report used the findings of an investigation of Bangladesh Bank (BB), which has in turn exposed the money laundering going safely over the years without much restraint. The New Nation listed eleven banks in its report; which are reputed banks and have facilitated the transfer of Taka 1600 crore from 2009 to 2014 through banking channel. It tends the people to question why these banks allowed the money swindling and how the supervision capacity of the central bank is so weak that so much slipped out of the country without least suspicion from the watchdog agencies.
The list also a number of business houses which have transferred the fund as import bill payment and also gave cover to non-repatriation of export earnings. The BB investigation found that these banks remitted the money overseas under the cover of Letter of Credits (LCs) opened to import industrial raw materials and capital machinery. They also used export documents to local industrial units. Later it turned out neither any businessman imported the goods and nor the business firm repatriated their export earnings. The investigation report listed several Chittagong based industrial firms which opened fake LCs and sent the money abroad.
It appears that all those banks were operating the accounts of business houses the way they were asking for. It can’t be said that they were not aware of the capital flight but they did not restraint them nor take formal action against them. It is not healthy or ethical banking and an open betrayal to the nation to allow swindling of money away from the country. It is open secret that banks are already involved in transferring money to the benefits of their clients. Most export earnings were not also repatriated and banks are giving cover to their failure to repatriate the export earnings. The disclosure in this reporting is just part of the money lost through banking and non-banking channel during the period under review because the spoiling over of money in Swiss banks and in other destinations are several times higher per year as per reports in the media.
It is no secret that the country’s fragile political environment is not conducive to make big investment and even rich and powerful families believe that the future of the children is not protected here to keep money in local banks. They are regularly moving the money out to settle their dependents abroad. It is an open secret and also widely reported to the government policy makers by intelligence agencies. But it appears that the swindling is routinely taking place. What is important here is that all the people and particularly the poor and common people can’t leave the country. So its wealth must be protected. The government must protect it; because there is none but the government to stop it.
