Money laundering: NBR traces Tk 40,000cr in assets abroad

The National Board of Revenue has found assets worth nearly Tk 40,000 crore in five countries which it believes were bought with money laundered from Bangladesh, said the Chief Adviser's Office yesterday.

The findings came from investigations conducted by the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR.

CIC Director General Ahsan Habib briefed Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on the findings yesterday at the state guesthouse Jamuna in presence of NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan.

The CIC also uncovered 352 foreign passports obtained by Bangladeshis through cash-for-citizenship schemes in nine countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, North Macedonia, Malta, Saint Lucia and Turkey.

In one case, a passport was purchased for $1.2 million, CIC chief Habib said.

The assets traced by the CIC were located in Dubai, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, New York, Virginia and Florida, with the largest concentrations in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and London, an NBR official said on condition of anonymity. 

The official noted that the process of realising Tk 10,000 crore in taxes and penalties from the identified taxpayers has already begun. "We have requested field offices to take steps in this regard," he added.

The CIC teams visited the destinations between January and April after gathering preliminary information from domestic sources.

"So far, we have traced 346 properties in the names of individuals and companies through money laundering from Bangladesh. This represents only a partial picture of our investigation," said Habib.

He also revealed that during Sheikh Hasina's tenure, money launderers had installed their own operatives inside Bangladesh Bank to manipulate its central database, erasing large volumes of data. "The good news is that CIC has now developed the expertise to recover the information," he said.

Calling the findings "just the tip of the iceberg", Habib said the CIC, with support from more than six international organisations, is working to seize and repatriate the assets while ensuring punishment for those involved.

"We still have a large volume of information, which will require more time to uncover fully," he said.

The revelations echo previous reports. The White Paper panel on the economy estimated that an average of $16 billion was siphoned abroad annually during Sheikh Hasina's "corrupt autocracy". And in an interview with the Financial Times last October, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur accused tycoons linked to the toppled Hasina regime of working with members of the country's powerful military intelligence agency to siphon $17 billion out of the banking sector during her rule.

In response to the CIC findings, Prof Yunus said all relevant agencies, including the CIC, Anti-Corruption Commission, and police's CID, must coordinate their efforts to identify those involved in money laundering and bring them to book, according to the Chief Adviser's Press Wing. "An example must be set so that in the future, no one can plunder the country's resources and accumulate property abroad," he said.

Directing CIC to continue the investigation, the chief adviser said it must be thorough and extend to as many countries as possible. The government will provide full support for all measures aimed at repatriating the nation's assets, he said.

He described the looting of national wealth as "treason", adding, "To build a prosperous nation for future generations, those involved in this plunder must be brought under the law."

The chief adviser also stressed the need for transparency. "The public must be made aware of how certain individuals have looted the country's assets, and all relevant agencies must work together in a coordinated effort to expose the truth."