The amount is estimated considering the migration of around 4 lakh workers every year and spending over Tk 1 lakh in commission for each of them in the destination countries.

Other businesses are allowed to open letter of credits (LCs) for importing products. But there is no such mechanism for manpower business though it requires foreign currency in buying job demands and exploring new markets.

The recruiting agencies send the money through hundi, which has been banned by the government, mainly to pay commissions to their foreign counterparts, outsourcing companies and sometimes even the employers, industry insiders said.

"Whether we accept it or not, the ground level reality is that every demand has to be purchased from foreign agents or employers. The situation is not unique for Bangladesh, rather it's global," said an agent.

For example, each worker going to Malaysia spends around Tk 2 lakh, he said. But the amount spent in Bangladesh for airfare, documentation fee, recruiting agents' fee and even the fee for the brokers, is only around Tk 1 lakh.

The rest is spent in Malaysia for paying the outsourcing companies and other authorities (grey area), business insiders noted.

"The money spent in Malaysia is sent through hundi," an agent said. If the government had a mechanism of allowing recruiting agents a foreign currency quota as per their annual performances, it would add value to the services they provide in placing workers overseas.

A fact-finding mission of a human rights organisation in Malaysia, Tenaganita, in its recent report also revealed the anomalies. It said each Bangladeshi worker has to pay around Tk 1 lakh to various government and non-government authorities in Malaysia for collecting job demand letters, their approvals and other documentation.

These agencies include the sub-agents who lobby the outsourcing companies, their officials and even some officials of the home ministry of Malaysia, the report noted.

In the case of the Middle Eastern countries, it is a well-known fact that there exists a visa trading system. Either the recruiting agencies or the individual brokers buy visas from the agencies of those countries or employers at Tk 50,000 to Tk 1.5 lakh.

"The amount paid by Bangladeshi brokers for visas is more than that by many other manpower exporting countries as Bangladeshi workers have more demand of jobs," said another recruiting agent. The system remains widely "whether we want it or not", the agent added.

Upon realisation of such realities, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) in 1996 asked the government to allocate a foreign currency quota to the agencies.

The Ministry of Labour and Manpower then also held a meeting attended by the officials from the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, labour and manpower, Bangladesh Bank, Export Promotion Bureau, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training and the Baira.

The meeting felt that the government should consider the issue, as the agencies need foreign currency to buy job demand letters and explore job markets. But the matter was not pursued anymore.

As approached by the Baira following the meeting, Bangladesh Bank also agreed to allocate a lump-sum amount of $10,000 to each agent. But the recruiting agencies' association disagreed to it, saying the performance of the agencies varies greatly from one to another. Since then, the matter is gathering dust.

"This is very shocking," said a recruiting agent, adding that transparency could be established in financial transaction process of manpower business provided that the agencies are allocated foreign currency quota based on their performances. The BMET that documents the number of workers the agencies send could monitor and certify the performances.

"Once the foreign currency is allocated to the agencies, they will be accountable to the government on their expenditure of the foreign currency," said another manpower agent asking not to be named.

For example, the government had initiated an investigation to find out why migration cost became high in the case of Malaysia. But the move did not succeed, as their financial transaction was not documented, the agent noted.

The government allowed a state-owned recruiting agency, Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL), to pay $5,000 as commission to FeximCo Canada Inc, a Canadian company for employing each Bangladeshi worker in Canada.

"If a government agency is allowed to pay commission, why not the private agencies, which recruit more than 30 percent of the workers, while the BOESL recruits less than one percent," an agent questioned.