Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh government is set to disclose its three-year strategic paper for curbing illicit financial flows in the country formally today (Monday), officials said.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will disclose the National Strategy for Preventing Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism for 2015-17 at the fifth National Coordination Committee on Anti-Money Laundering meeting scheduled to be held at the finance ministry on Monday afternoon.
The strategies were approved in April last at the fourth meeting of National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CFT).
The objectives of National Strategy for Preventing Money Laundering and Combating Financial of Terrorism for the year of 2015-17 is to set a comprehensive medium term goal and action agenda in strengthening the capacity of all stakeholders in implementing the provisions of the relevant UN Conventions.
“The government has taken the strategy aiming to expedite our efforts to curb money laundering and financing of terrorism,” a senior official explained.
The official also said a total of 15 ministries, divisions and state agencies are going to implement 140 actions under 11 strategies outlined in the ongoing mutual evaluation assessment of Asian Pacific Group (APG) on Bangladesh.
An evaluation team of APG will come to Bangladesh within October 23 this year on a site visit to evaluate the Mutual Evaluation Assessment report, he added.
The strategy consists of eleven strategies against eleven specific strategic objectives along with expected outcomes, challenges, actions needed, timeframe, budget, supporting legal instruments and responsible agencies to implement the strategies.
Under the strategy, the government will update national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment regularly and introducing risk based approach of monitoring and supervision of all reporting organizations.
The implementing agencies will indentify corruption induced money laundering considering corruption as a high risk.
As per the strategy, border control mechanism will be modernised to prevent smuggling of gold and drugs, human trafficking, other transnational organised crimes and their financing.
The agencies will takes measures to discourse illicit fund transfer by returning the assets transferred abroad and/or recovering the tax evaded thereon.
BBN/SSR/AD