Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Jeweller’s Association (BAJUS) on Saturday urged the government to strengthen drives against gold smuggling, as Tk73,000 crore is being laundered annually through gold smuggling.
“In a recent assessment, we found that gold worth of taka two billion is being smuggled into the country every day. So, the smuggling of gold causes money laundering of Tk730 billion annually,” Enamul Haque Khan Dolan, Chairman of BAJUS Standing Committee on Anti-Smuggling and Law Enforcement, told a press briefing held in its head office in Dhaka.
BAJUS Vice-Chairman of the anti-smuggling committee Bidhan Malakar, Member-Secretary Iqbal Uddin, and members Swapan Chandra Karmakar, Bikash Ghosh, Nazrul Islam and Babul Rahman were present.
The BAJUS leader claimed that the money laundering through gold smuggling by a group of greedy businessmen has created negative impact on the country’s foreign currency reserve.
On behalf of BAJUS President Sayem Sobhan Anvir, the trade body leader requested Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue (NBR) to make an assessment on economic impact of the money being laundered through gold smuggling.
Enamul Haque said, BAJUS is conducting research to find out the actual demand and supply of gold industry of Bangladesh as there is no official data available now.
The trade body also urged the businessmen to sell jewelry with hallmark to protect the industry from fake gold.
Last week, BAJUS President Sayem Sobhan Anvir wrote to the home and finance ministers and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman, urging them to allocate at least 25 percent of the gold being recovered during drives as reward to the members of law enforcement agencies and customs.
BAJUS, a platform of around 40 thousand jewelry retailers, made the proposal to inspire the law enforcers to strengthen their efforts to prevent gold smuggling.
