Amendments to Money Laundering Prevention Act tied up in red tape

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Shakhawat Hossain
The cabinet division has inquired about the progress in the adoption of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2007. The adoption, according to sources, is being delayed due to bureaucratic complexities.
In a letter to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) last week, the cabinet division sought to know about the matter.
It also wanted to know about the initiatives taken by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to become a member of Egmont Group, an international body working against terrorist funding and other financial crimes.
The queries about the delay by the cabinet division came after the central bank made similar move as the draft act has been awaiting the vetting by the Ministry for Law and Parliamentary Affairs since August 13 last.
The BB has been given the responsibility to bring back money siphoned off the country as part of the anti-corrup tion drive by the present caretaker administration.
But it is handicapped by lack of proper laws to carry out the task.
The central bank is certain that without the adoption of such act, it will not able to bring back the money that was taken out of the country by the corruption suspects and its FIU will not qualify for membership of Egmont Group.
According to the BB officials, to become a member of Egmont Group, whose main job is to help its member counties to combat terror funding and other financial crimes, it is essential to include 40 recommendations in the draft act as per suggestion by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body.
Besides, the country needs to adopt 'terrorism financing prevention law' to accommodate nine other recommendations made by the same FATF.
A committee comprising officials of Asia Pacific Group on money laundering, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) will visit the country next year to firm up Bangladesh's stand on money laundering issues.