The government is going to form ‘Property Management Authority’ (PMA) to maintain confiscated movable and immovable properties of accused money launderers.
According to sources, the PMA will be formed in coordination with the ministries and organisations concerned.
The sources also said the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs has been asked to look into the legal issues related to such confiscated properties. The Bangladesh Bank will prepare a draft law in this regard.
At present, these properties are taken care of in accordance with the guidelines of an international organisation named United National Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Officials concerned said, the ‘National Coordination Committee on Money Laundering’ is going to hold a meeting next week to implement the government's decision and establish a legal framework. The meeting is scheduled to be held jointly by the officials concerned of the Ministries of Finance and Law, the Bangladesh Bank and heads of different other agencies. Law Minister is supposed to chair the meeting.
Officials of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) said the UNODC earlier provided guidelines to the BFIU on the maintenance of seized and confiscated property related to money laundering and terror financing. And these confiscated properties are being looked after as per the guidelines from the UNODC to the BFIU. Besides, the UNODC has already undertaken a project for long-term maintenance of these properties. However, the project could not start due to coronavirus pandemic.
Talking about the formation of the PMA, Dev Prasad Debnath, an adviser to the BFIU, said in many countries, there are central committees which are the proper authorities to look after the properties and maintenance and management of confiscated properties related to money laundering and terror financing.
“Usually this is being done in two ways. The first is on its own (government), and the second is through outsourcing. However, if a central committee is formed in Bangladesh, it will be possible to save the information by bringing accounts from different organisations concerned. Besides, it will be possible to maintain the confiscated property properly”, he said.
An official of the Ministry of Finance said the National Coordination Committee in its last meeting decided to formulate and implement guidelines and policies to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism.
According to sources, none of the government agencies has any accurate account of the total assets seized, including movable and immovable property related to money laundering and terror financing. However, the Bangladesh Bank, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other agencies concerned are keeping separate accounts of the properties.
In recent times there has been a number of high-profile cases of money laundering taking place. Movable and immoveable properties of a large number of influential and powerful persons have been seized and confiscated recently. Of them, the names of former Jubo League leader Ismail Hossain Samrat (casino Samrat), online casino businessman Selim, lawmaker Paply, police officer Pradeep, Nurul Huq Bhutto of Teknaf and Destiny boss Rafiqul Amin could be mentioned.
