BFIU chief apologises to High Court

The Head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has apologised to the High Court (HC) for submitting minced information on money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organisations with Swiss banks.
Appearing before a two-member HC bench on Wednesday, BFIU chief Md Masud Biswas said, "I am sorry for my inadvertent mistake. A draft of the statement was submitted. I pledge not to repeat such mistake. And I have submitted the statement again following the due process of the court."
Hearing his submission, the bench of justices Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Khizir Hayat accepted his apology with a warning of stern action if the same mistake takes place in future.
On Tuesday (Aug 30) the same HC bench asked the BFIU chief to appear before it on Aug 31 to explain his position over 'improper' submission of information on the much-talked-about about money laundering matter. The court also asked him to form a research cell over the money laundering issues. Besides, the court directed him to submit a detail report by October 26 this year on steps taken by the BFIU to recover the money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and entities with banks of different countries.
The court said, "Issuing letters to different organisations and the countries is not enough for recovering the laundered money. You have to monitor it regularly. Do something and show the people. Money laundering has to be reduced at any cost."
The court asked the BFIU chief to read an Indian Supreme Court verdict that suggested some ways on preventing money laundering and recovering laundered money.
In reply to a query of the HC, the BFIU chief said that since 2017, they have submitted 983 intelligence reports to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and other law enforcing agencies for taking action about money laundering issues.
He also mentioned that the unit had made 644 requests to different international organisations seeking information about Bangladeshi money launderers and inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 79 countries over the issue.
Earlier on Aug 14, the BFIU said that it had sought information from the Switzerland Financial Intelligent Unit (SFIU) about 67 persons and entities since 2013 when the organisation got membership of Egmont Group.
The HC on Wednesday wanted to know on what basis the organisation made the list of 67 persons and entities. But the BFIU chief could not give a satisfactory answer to the court over the issue. The court said a list made on the basis of assumption cannot be accepted by a court.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik appeared in the court on behalf of the BFIU chief while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan represented the state.

bikashju@gmail.com