The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh will join the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIU), an international network of FIUs of 106 countries, to recover funds that were illegally deposited in foreign banks by politicians, officials and businessmen suspected of corruption.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the government taskforce on the repatriation of money siphoned off by corruption suspects. Salehuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Bank Governor and also convener of the taskforce chaired the meeting.

The Government recently formed the 10-member task force to bring back the money siphoned off from the country in coordination with the efforts of different government wings.

The decision was learnt to have taken according to suggestions made by World Bank and IMF. The World Bank recently offered the government to cooperate in bringing back the money.

The Egmont Group is the international organisation for stimulating cooperation amongst FIUs across the globe. It's main task is to collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry, to analyse the data, and to make it available to appropriate national authorities and other Financial Intelligence Units for use in combating terrorist funding and other financial crime.

Membership of the Egmont Group will facilitate and enhance exchange of information by the Bangladeshi financial intelligence unit with its counterpart FIUs of the world, Dr Salehuddin told journalists after the meeting.

Admission of Bangladesh as a member of the Egmont Group will be a major step forward in joining the international community in its fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, meeting sources said.

The present caretaker government after assuming office in January this year asked the central bank to sign agreements with the authorities concerned of Malaysia, the Philippines, England, Singapore, and Indonesia to bring back an unspecified amount funds, allegedly, siphoned off from the country.

The government reportedly has information that allies of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen stole several billion dollars and laundered abroad during five years of the last BNP regime.

The interim government has pledged to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt politics before reinstating democracy with elections by late next year.

In a drive against corruption during which it has detained over 200,00 people, the Caretaker Government had earlier sought to engage the central banks of these countries.

Draft agreements had been sent to Bank Negara of Malaysia and to the central banks of Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.

The central bank has been in touch with the central banks of some countries examining the possibility of getting back the funds taken out of the country by the corrupt elements.

However, in a change of plans under legal advice that cites The Anti Money Laundering Act 2002, Dhaka is to approach the governments in these and other countries.

It is suspected that Malaysia, Singapore, Britain and the US are among the major destinations of money siphoned off from the country.

Sources claim that people like Tareque Rahman, Arafat Rahman Koko, Mosaddak Ali Falu, Gius Uddin Al Mamun and Noor Ali siphoned off their illegally earned money to foreign countries.