Bangladesh to join WB's stolen asset recovery initiative
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Shakhawat Hossain
The country is likely to join the stolen asset recovery (StAR) initiative launched jointly by the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year, sources said.
"A lot of progress has been made to join the initiative so that siphoned off money could be brought back to the country soon," said a senior finance ministry official.
An expert committee will be formed in line with the suggestion made by WB to complete the procedures of joining the StAR initiative.
The official said it is imperative for the country to join the initiative as the present caretaker government, intending to bring back the siphoned off money, has achieved little success.
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the central bank has been assigned the main task of bringing back the money smuggled out by corrupt politicians and businessmen.
It is operating for more than one year but could not strike any deal or ink any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with counterparts due to some technical barrier.
A new anti money laundering act that was recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body, was approved last month covering prevention of terror financing.
The new act will help the FIU to strike expected deals or MoUs with counterparts in the UK, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand to know details of the stolen money.
The official said the country has already streamlined the operation of the new anti-graft body and also working to establish transparency in fiscal measures in line with the suggestion by the country's major donor agencies.
He said all these are prerequisites to join the StAR initiative launched jointly by the WB and the UNODC in 2007.
These two organisations have forged partnerships with other agencies, such as the regional development banks, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the G-8.
They are pursuing countries to ensure that the initiative is a truly global effort and recovered stolen assets would be spent for the development and social programs, or badly-needed infrastructure.
Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam last week in a meeting with the visiting WB managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala praised the StAR initiative.
According to a paper presented during the discussion with Okonjo-Iweala, the finance adviser sought WB assistance to recover the stolen wealth from overseas countries.
After the meeting, Mirza Aziz told reporters that the WB suggested formation of a small expert committee to deal with the matter, although two similar bodies already exists.
One is headed by the central bank governor and the other by law adviser.
According to WB, the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activity, corruption and tax evasion is estimated to range between US1.0 and US $1.6 trillion per year --half of this from developing and transitional economies.
Corrupt money associated with bribes received by public officials from developing and transitional countries is estimated to be $20-40 billion. While estimates of such monies are known to be imprecise, they give an idea of the large dimension of the problem, warranting concerted action, it said.
The country is likely to join the stolen asset recovery (StAR) initiative launched jointly by the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year, sources said.
"A lot of progress has been made to join the initiative so that siphoned off money could be brought back to the country soon," said a senior finance ministry official.
An expert committee will be formed in line with the suggestion made by WB to complete the procedures of joining the StAR initiative.
The official said it is imperative for the country to join the initiative as the present caretaker government, intending to bring back the siphoned off money, has achieved little success.
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the central bank has been assigned the main task of bringing back the money smuggled out by corrupt politicians and businessmen.
It is operating for more than one year but could not strike any deal or ink any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with counterparts due to some technical barrier.
A new anti money laundering act that was recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body, was approved last month covering prevention of terror financing.
The new act will help the FIU to strike expected deals or MoUs with counterparts in the UK, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand to know details of the stolen money.
The official said the country has already streamlined the operation of the new anti-graft body and also working to establish transparency in fiscal measures in line with the suggestion by the country's major donor agencies.
He said all these are prerequisites to join the StAR initiative launched jointly by the WB and the UNODC in 2007.
These two organisations have forged partnerships with other agencies, such as the regional development banks, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the G-8.
They are pursuing countries to ensure that the initiative is a truly global effort and recovered stolen assets would be spent for the development and social programs, or badly-needed infrastructure.
Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam last week in a meeting with the visiting WB managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala praised the StAR initiative.
According to a paper presented during the discussion with Okonjo-Iweala, the finance adviser sought WB assistance to recover the stolen wealth from overseas countries.
After the meeting, Mirza Aziz told reporters that the WB suggested formation of a small expert committee to deal with the matter, although two similar bodies already exists.
One is headed by the central bank governor and the other by law adviser.
According to WB, the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activity, corruption and tax evasion is estimated to range between US1.0 and US $1.6 trillion per year --half of this from developing and transitional economies.
Corrupt money associated with bribes received by public officials from developing and transitional countries is estimated to be $20-40 billion. While estimates of such monies are known to be imprecise, they give an idea of the large dimension of the problem, warranting concerted action, it said.