Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has sought accounts information of at least 150 foreign nationals and several overseas organisations from the banks up to November this year to look into their ‘suspicious’ transaction within the country’s financial system, sources said.
They said, among the foreign nationals and entities, a number of individuals and four business houses are linked with the Brothers’ Circle, a Eurasian crime syndicate.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), an anti-money laundering arm of the central bank, recently asked for such information from the banks following requests from Egmont Group’s member countries.
BFIU is one of the members of 140 Egmont Group countries.
According to the US Department of Treasury, Brothers’ Circle is a transnational crime syndicate composed with leaders and senior members of Eurasian criminal groups. It is largely based in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is also operating in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Since it is running businesses in various countries, it developed ‘illicit’ financial networks across the world for providing revenues and support to their global criminal activities.
Admitting the matter, Mahfuzur Rahman, spokesperson and BB Executive Director told The New Nation yesterday that bank account details of the foreign nationals and entities were sought from the banks following the request from the FIUs of the respective countries.
“The FIUs of the Egmont Group member countries have treaties to share information on the bank accounts held by their citizens within the member countries,” he added.
He further said as part of the deals, we asked for information about the citizens’ bank accounts to be held in local banks to investigate whether they are involved in illicit money transaction.
“We later exchange information of bank transactions of the suspected persons and business entities in compliance with the deals to combat money laundering and terror financing,” he noted.
When asked, he declined to disclose the information regarding suspicious transaction, and money laundering by the suspected foreigners and overseas businesses.
He, however, said that the officials of BFIU remain determined to continue their efforts to detect illegal fund transfer in and outside the country in order to protect the country’s financial system from the individuals as well as criminal groups.
The BFIU asked for bank details of 42 people from different countries in January this year. Of them, 26 were believed to be involved in suspicious transaction and the rest them were their family members.
On similar requests, it sought bank transaction information of 33 Ukrainians on April 3 this year and 21 Argentineans on April 10. It also sought account information of several citizens of India, Bahrain, the Philippines, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Details of transactions by Ahmed Shahin, Belal Hossain and Ferdous Ahmed, three Bangladeshi nationals living in South Africa, were sought on August 18.
In a letter sent to the banks on November 10, the central bank investigators sought account details of Isam Yusuf Zahani, Imad Omar Allesnas and Omaima Othman Al-Mahmud, three Bahraini citizens, stating their birthplaces and passport numbers.
Another letter, on November 5, it asked for information on Japanese citizen Shinichi Mitate, also attaching his birth and passport details.
Among the suspected individuals of Brothers’ Circle, BB has also asked the banks to provide information about its key members Vladislav Leontyev (Russian), Gafur Rakhimov (Uzbek), Artur Badalyan (UAE), Vadim Mikhaylovich Lyalin (Russia), Grigory Victorovich Lepsveridze (Russia), Igor Leonidovich Shlykov (Russia), Surgey Yevgeniyevich Moskalenko (Uzbek) and Yakov Rybalsky (Israel).
Earlier, the US authorities had sent a letter to BB requesting bank information of the key members of the criminal gang.
It also identified the gang as a threat to ‘national and international’ security and asked for confiscating all its assets and property.
Vladislav Leontyev has been involved in various criminal activities, including narcotics trafficking while Gafur Rakhimov, one of the leaders of Uzbek organized crime group, operating major international drug syndicates involving the trafficking of heroin.
Igor Leonidovich Shlykov owns or controls M S Group Invest Company and Meridian Jet Management based in Russia and Austria respectively.
Gurgen House Company Ltd is owned or controlled by Lazar Shaybazian, who is working on behalf of Vladislav Leontyev. Gurgen House has offices in the UAE, Uzbekistan and Russia. Lazar Shaybazian uses Gurgen House to move money.
Artur Badalyan owns Fasten Tourism LLC based in Dubai, UAE.
BFIU of BB also asked account details of the foreign business houses from banks in a letter in June this year.
When asked, whether the Brothers’ Circle is operating in the country, a senior official of an intelligent agency said, they have no information regarding their operation in Bangladesh.
