Suspicious transactions regarding loans increase in financial sector: BFIU
The recurrence of suspicious transactions regarding loans has increased by one and a half times in the country’s financial sector, while the amount has doubled overall, said an annual report of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU).
BFIU published the report at its headquarters on Tuesday that said the number of suspicious transactions regarding loans in the 2022-23 financial year increased to 520 from 341 in 2021-22FY.
Besides, banks, financial institutions, insurance, brokerage houses and other organisations sent reports of 14,106 suspicious transactions in the 2022-23 fiscal year, up by 5,535 incidents than 2021-22.
BFIU chief Md Masud Biswas chaired the report publishing event where Bangladesh Bank’s executive director and assistant spokesperson Md Sarwar Hossan and BFIU deputy chief Md Rafiqul Islam were present.
BFIU’s additional director Md Kamal Hossain gave a presentation on the annual report of the financial intelligence unit.
The bank officials send reports on suspicious transactions to the BFIU.
Of the 14,106 suspicious transactions in the 2022-23 fiscal year, 12,809 were reported by banks, 12 by financial institutions, 900 by organisations that collect remittance and 900 from other sectors.
BFIU prepared the report based on the reports and other sources. In 2022-23, the intelligence unit sent 133 reports to various agencies including 85 to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, 33 to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), 10 to National Board of Revenue (NBR) and five to other organisations.
Speaking about this, BFIU chief Masud Biswas said the intelligence unit publishes the annual reports to ensure its accountability.
This year’s report has added chapters on hundi, illegal gaming/betting, and chapter on BFIU’s steps to curb cryptocurrency trading and forex trading and multiple analytical reports alongside the regular reports.
Masud Biswas told the media that the amount of submission of reports to BFIU by different organisations increased by 64.58 per cent in 2022-23FY. This reflects the increase in efficiency and awareness of the officials of the involved organisations, change in type of crimes and BFIU’s unflinching stand to curb those.
The BFIU chief further said the transactions have increased due to the government’s development activities. This explains the significant rise in statements of cash transactions from the banks and financial institutions last year.
Masud Biswas also answered questions of newspersons. Several questions were asked about former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s ownership in wealth abroad, and S Alam Group’s money laundering and the role of BFIU in this regard.
Speaking about Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s wealth abroad, the BFIU chief said, “The ACC has already worked on the people who have bought land and flats abroad. ALready a few cases have been filed. The collection of information on others is ongoing.”
He also said that they could not always get information from foreign intelligence agencies. That is why the process is underway to file agreements with 10 countries.
Masud Biswas also insisted that a strong political will is necessary to bring back the laundered money.
Speaking about S Alam Group’s money laundering accusation, Masud Biswas said, “We have been working according to the court’s directives in this regard.”
Around 70-80 per cent of money is laundered in the name of trade and commerce, he said. “The Bangladesh Bank is working in this regard. It is tough to bring back the money once it is laundered as the laws of two countries are different.”
It was possible to return the money laundered by Arafat Rahman Koko, he added.