Money launderers are free to leave Bangladesh forever: Mustafa Kamal

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the government will toughen laws to catch money launderers if the current legislations allow them to slip through loopholes.

He also suggested that the money launderers should leave Bangladesh forever if they do not want to invest the funds in the country.

“No government wants the country’s money to be sent abroad. Every government should identify the criminals and bring them to justice,” he told an online media briefing on Friday after presenting the budget for 2020-21 on Friday.

“For this, we will try to enforce the laws if there are any. But if there aren’t any laws, I promise we will strengthen the existing ones,” he added.     

He said the Bangladeshi investors must spend their earnings in the country.

“Those who don’t want to spend here are free to leave forever,” the minister added.     

In the budget speech in parliament, Kamal noted that there are widespread allegations of money laundering and tax evasion through under-invoicing, over-invoicing, and declaration of false investments.

“Our government has zero tolerance for such misdeeds,” he said and proposed 50 percent tax on the proven amount of over- or under-invoicing, or false declaration of investment.

He hoped the proposed provisions will be “highly” effective in curbing money laundering and tax evasion.

On Friday, he claimed the Awami League government brought such practices under control in the past one and a half years.

A journalist asked whether the government has plans to ask foreign investors to re-invest their profits in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir ruled out such idea.

Foreigners can also take salaries out of the country by paying tax, but they require permission to sell assets, he said.