TDS Desk:

Begum Para, the colloquial name of a neighbourhood in Canada’s Toronto, has become a haven for corrupt Bangladeshis, who syphoned billions of taka there under the patronage of the ousted Awami League government.

Besides, the corrupt elements have settled in Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore after embezzling public funds over the years.

The group includes politicians, opportunistic bureaucrats and businessmen.

The people once illegally laundered money abroad for better living for wives and future generations. Now, individuals, including politicians and businessmen, thronged the second home and Begum Para in Canada to avoid legal action from the authorities.

The interim government has taken an initiative to bring back around Tk1 trillion laundered money.

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif shifted his family to Canada earlier. His two sons — Fahim Afsar Alam and Farhan Sadiq Alam — and daughter Tanisa Alam have been living in Toronto for a long time. Rafiqul Alam Chunnu, the elder brother of Hanif, also lives there.

Hanif has amassed huge wealth, including homes, cars and business entities, in Canada in the names of his sons and other family members.

Former revenue officer Matiur Rahman amassed wealth not only for himself but also his daughter Farjana Rahman Epshita has billions of taka there. She has her own house in Barry City, Canada.

Epshita spent around Tk9 crore to become the owner of the house. The 32-year-old daughter of Matiur

introduces herself as a makeup artist.

Numerous influential political leaders, corrupt bureaucrats, engineers, police officers, garment factory owners and bank and financial institution managers have also bought properties anonymously in Begum Para.

Some of them are living a luxurious life by owning expensive houses and cars in many countries, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Singapore.

Controversial businessman Saiful Alam has been reported to have looted lakhs of taka from 6-7 banks. He built an empire in Singapore with this money.

Muhammad Aziz Khan of Summit Group has become one of Singapore’s top 10 richest people with money looted from Bangladesh. Data shows that such examples are numerous. However, being in the centre of power, none of them could be caught for so long.

According to sources, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians have bought palatial buildings in the elite areas of Toronto as well as in the suburbs of Mississauga, Hamilton, Guelph and Lake Ontario. The race to Canada has increased by many times in the last month since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August.

Around $149.2 billion, which is equivalent to Tk17.6 trillion, was syphoned off from Bangladesh in the last 15 years of the Awami League regime, according to USA-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

According to the GFI report, Tk64,000 crore is being smuggled abroad from Bangladesh every year through over and under-invoicing under the guise of international trade. In five years from 2016 to 2020, smugglers laundered Tk320,000 crore, of which Tk98,000 crore was smuggled in one year in 2015 alone.

Considering the amount of smuggled money, Bangladesh is the second most trafficked country in South Asia in 2019.

The money was smuggled mainly during imports and exports through hiding the actual price of goods, and bill manipulation, bribery, corruption and income tax concealment, according to the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU).

Although the government has some policies to prevent money laundering, it is not possible to prevent money laundering from the country due to the lack of proper and effective implementation. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act is yet to be amended though there are discussions about its amendment.

By the end of December 2023, the deposits of Bangladeshis with Swiss banks stood at Tk234 crore, according to the Central Bank of Switzerland. However, smugglers are now laundering money to many other countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia and Malaysia, as alternatives to Swiss banks.

Dhaka University Associate Professor Al-Amin said thousands of crores of taka have been looted under the cover of various development projects in the last 15 years.

“This money has been smuggled through hundi and over-invoicing. It is not possible to bring the assets of the corrupt people back to the country only by freezing bank and BO accounts. The process of identifying them through investigation and confiscating those assets should also be initiated,” he said.

Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said there is a policy regarding the return of smuggled money.

“In the light of this policy, the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank, BFIU, ACC, NBR, CID and all concerned should work in coordination. It is possible to recover the money by identifying the countries where the smuggling took place and making an agreement,” he said.

Rights activists appreciated the initiative of the interim government to bring back the laundered money to set an example in the country.

Former National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said the money earned through corruption and irregularities is smuggled abroad.

“There is no opportunity to show the money earned through irregularities in the income tax documents,” he said.

The High Court asked for initiating mutual legal assistance agreements (MLAs) with various countries as well as G2G (government to government) agreements to recover or return the money smuggled.

The Bangladesh government has not asked the Swiss government for any specific information about Bangladeshis depositing money in Swiss banks.