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Friday, April 27, 2012
Front Page
Shady story of migration
Huge amount of money laundered while migrating to rich countries as investors
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=231863
Sajjadur Rahman
Hundreds of Bangladeshis migrate to rich nations as investors every year, laundering millions of dollars out of the country.
The government agencies and the central bank have turned a blind eye to the illegal practice, as agents continue to offer assistance to aspiring migrants through newspaper advertisements.
The countries offering citizenship under investor, entrepreneur or self-employed category know about Bangladesh's law that prohibits taking capital out of the country without Bangladesh Bank's (BB) permission. And their missions in Dhaka issue visas to aspiring migrants under these categories.
The bulk of these migrants, mostly businessmen and bureaucrats, prefer Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. They launder money to pay hefty amounts for meeting immigration requirements.
Bangladesh stands second only to China on the list of beneficiaries under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme. At least 1,867 Bangladeshis availed themselves of the MM2H facility between 2002 and 2010, according to the Malaysia government's website. They transferred more than $280 million (about Tk 2,300 crore) to Malaysia during the period.
After the primary selection, a person must make a fixed deposit of RM 300,000 ($89,000) with a Malaysian bank to get an approval of stay for 10 years, which is renewable. If the person transfers another $50,000 as living expenses for his family, the amount may go up to $150,000 per person.
None of these people have taken permission from Bangladesh Bank to funnel money out of the country, a senior BB official told The Daily Star.
More affluent people settle in Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore at costs several times higher than that for Malaysia. One has to take at least 500,000 Canadian dollars (Tk 4.13 crore) for migrating there under entrepreneur, self-employed or investor categories.
This correspondent found that a good number of businessmen and their families settled in Canada and Singapore in 2010 and 2011. Some of them have already obtained Canadian passports. Another group of businessmen has been residing in Singapore and running their businesses from there.
Some businessmen who enjoyed the facility in Canada said most of them applied in the names of their spouses and dependants, which is evident in the Canadian government's documents.
According to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, at least 2,991 people, who independently applied under the investor category, were given residence permits in 2011 from across the world. Another 7,603 people got the facility against the names of their spouses and dependants the same year.
I do not understand why the central bank is so rigid in giving permission to take foreign currency out of the country. It is so easy to send any amount of money abroad through hundi [an unauthorised way to send money abroad], said a businessman.
Non-repatriation of export earnings, retaining commissions abroad and under or over invoicing of exports and imports are some ways of laundering money.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Office have detected a number of cases of money laundering through these ways. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is also aware of it.
An audit at branches of a commercial bank found that $16.2 million had been repatriated against the export value of frozen fish worth $17.8 million. And $1.62 million [Tk 10.5 crore] remained un-repatriated, said a senior CAG official wishing anonymity.
However, cash incentives were given on the full export value, he said.
In another similar case, nearly Tk 3.5 crore remained un-repatriated, said the official.
Many Bangladeshis who settled in Malaysia took money out of the country through hundi.
A private banker, who availed himself of the MM2H programme in 2011, told The Daily Star: Someone [a Bangladeshi] sent money to Malaysia from Singapore for me, and I paid his relative here.
A Malaysian consultant, who works for the MM2H programme, said transfer of money is not a problem.
There are many ways to bring money to Malaysia. The most common way is to use a money changer and most of my customers do that, he told this correspondent by email recently.
He said the other way was to bring in US dollars, and they would get a money changer to change US dollars into ringgit, and transfer it to a bank account.
The consultant charges RM 7,500 (Tk 201,145), half of which is payable in advance for preparing documents. The rest is to be paid upon approval. It takes two months to complete the whole process.
His firm has so far dealt with more than 500 applications, mostly from Bangladeshis. It has received another 400 applications from Bangladeshis that are being processed.
When this correspondent contacted the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka, Shaheen Islam, senior education and public affairs adviser, declined to comment on the issue. He told this correspondent to visit Canada's citizenship and immigration website for details.
Wishing anonymity, an ACC official said they cannot do anything unless the central bank refers any specific case to them. On the other hand, Bangladesh Bank officials said they could act only if they are provided with any particular complaint or case.
Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, told The Daily Star that they approached the foreign ministry for information on Bangladeshi immigrants about two years ago. The ministry said the central bank had to provide it with names of immigrants for getting information, he added.
Front Page
Shady story of migration
Huge amount of money laundered while migrating to rich countries as investors
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=231863
Sajjadur Rahman
Hundreds of Bangladeshis migrate to rich nations as investors every year, laundering millions of dollars out of the country.
The government agencies and the central bank have turned a blind eye to the illegal practice, as agents continue to offer assistance to aspiring migrants through newspaper advertisements.
The countries offering citizenship under investor, entrepreneur or self-employed category know about Bangladesh's law that prohibits taking capital out of the country without Bangladesh Bank's (BB) permission. And their missions in Dhaka issue visas to aspiring migrants under these categories.
The bulk of these migrants, mostly businessmen and bureaucrats, prefer Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. They launder money to pay hefty amounts for meeting immigration requirements.
Bangladesh stands second only to China on the list of beneficiaries under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme. At least 1,867 Bangladeshis availed themselves of the MM2H facility between 2002 and 2010, according to the Malaysia government's website. They transferred more than $280 million (about Tk 2,300 crore) to Malaysia during the period.
After the primary selection, a person must make a fixed deposit of RM 300,000 ($89,000) with a Malaysian bank to get an approval of stay for 10 years, which is renewable. If the person transfers another $50,000 as living expenses for his family, the amount may go up to $150,000 per person.
None of these people have taken permission from Bangladesh Bank to funnel money out of the country, a senior BB official told The Daily Star.
More affluent people settle in Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore at costs several times higher than that for Malaysia. One has to take at least 500,000 Canadian dollars (Tk 4.13 crore) for migrating there under entrepreneur, self-employed or investor categories.
This correspondent found that a good number of businessmen and their families settled in Canada and Singapore in 2010 and 2011. Some of them have already obtained Canadian passports. Another group of businessmen has been residing in Singapore and running their businesses from there.
Some businessmen who enjoyed the facility in Canada said most of them applied in the names of their spouses and dependants, which is evident in the Canadian government's documents.
According to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, at least 2,991 people, who independently applied under the investor category, were given residence permits in 2011 from across the world. Another 7,603 people got the facility against the names of their spouses and dependants the same year.
I do not understand why the central bank is so rigid in giving permission to take foreign currency out of the country. It is so easy to send any amount of money abroad through hundi [an unauthorised way to send money abroad], said a businessman.
Non-repatriation of export earnings, retaining commissions abroad and under or over invoicing of exports and imports are some ways of laundering money.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Office have detected a number of cases of money laundering through these ways. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is also aware of it.
An audit at branches of a commercial bank found that $16.2 million had been repatriated against the export value of frozen fish worth $17.8 million. And $1.62 million [Tk 10.5 crore] remained un-repatriated, said a senior CAG official wishing anonymity.
However, cash incentives were given on the full export value, he said.
In another similar case, nearly Tk 3.5 crore remained un-repatriated, said the official.
Many Bangladeshis who settled in Malaysia took money out of the country through hundi.
A private banker, who availed himself of the MM2H programme in 2011, told The Daily Star: Someone [a Bangladeshi] sent money to Malaysia from Singapore for me, and I paid his relative here.
A Malaysian consultant, who works for the MM2H programme, said transfer of money is not a problem.
There are many ways to bring money to Malaysia. The most common way is to use a money changer and most of my customers do that, he told this correspondent by email recently.
He said the other way was to bring in US dollars, and they would get a money changer to change US dollars into ringgit, and transfer it to a bank account.
The consultant charges RM 7,500 (Tk 201,145), half of which is payable in advance for preparing documents. The rest is to be paid upon approval. It takes two months to complete the whole process.
His firm has so far dealt with more than 500 applications, mostly from Bangladeshis. It has received another 400 applications from Bangladeshis that are being processed.
When this correspondent contacted the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka, Shaheen Islam, senior education and public affairs adviser, declined to comment on the issue. He told this correspondent to visit Canada's citizenship and immigration website for details.
Wishing anonymity, an ACC official said they cannot do anything unless the central bank refers any specific case to them. On the other hand, Bangladesh Bank officials said they could act only if they are provided with any particular complaint or case.
Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, told The Daily Star that they approached the foreign ministry for information on Bangladeshi immigrants about two years ago. The ministry said the central bank had to provide it with names of immigrants for getting information, he added.
