The interim government yesterday restructured an inter-agency taskforce meant to bring back money that has been illegally taken abroad.

Headed by the Bangladesh Bank governor, the nine-member task force has become operational with immediate effect, said the finance ministry in a notification.

The previous taskforce was headed by the attorney general and formed by the immediate past Awami League government.

The amount of money illegally sent abroad is believed to be over Tk 100,000 crore, said a press statement issued by the office of the chief adviser to the interim government at the end of last month.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in 2021 said Bangladesh lost approximately $8.27 billion annually between 2009 and 2018 from misinvoicing of values of import-export goods by traders to evade taxes and illegal movement of money across international borders.

The taskforce will identify money and assets illegally taken abroad and assist parties concerned in the investigation, the finance ministry said on Saturday.

The panel will identify barriers to quickly settling relevant cases and take steps to remove the bottlenecks, it said.

The taskforce will also take initiatives to quickly bring back the money from foreign lands and take measures to manage seized or recovered assets, it said.

The taskforce will have representatives from the foreign affairs ministry, financial institutions division, law ministry, Anti-Corruption Commission, Criminal Investigation Department, the attorney general's office, customs intelligence and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, it added.

The panel will also contact local and foreign agencies to bring back the money from abroad, according to the notification.