Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Bangladesh
combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in Bangladesh
Muhammad Ashikur Rahman
Introduction
Bangladesh has arguably not yet been a safe haven for money launderers, nor a pivot for terrorist financing as there is still absence of phenomena that typically make a country attractive to money launderers. Stable economy and political system, modern financial institutions, lack of effective law to deal organized crime, lenient sentencing, and a country’s location close to a major consuming or producing country are some matters that lure criminals and terrorists into a particular country for the purpose of money laundering and financing of terrorism. But this is not to say the land is entirely rid of these grave concerns as the presence of some phenomena is still worth drawing attention. This existence and absence of phenomena makes a situation of money laundering and financing of terrorism prevalent in different forms in Bangladesh like many other countries. Since it is very hard to trace each penny being laundered and on top of that Bangladesh is still playing layman role on these, the total situation is potentially getting worse than ever before. The purpose of this paper is to show the various forms and means of money laundering and financing of terrorism and the initiatives Bangladesh’s government has taken so far on the issues from a critical perspective.
Bangladesh is bounded by India to the west, the north and the north-east, by Myanmar to the south-east. The surrounding regions recently witness significant rise of terrorism by many fundamentalist and guerrilla groups commonly known as ULFA of Asham, NSCN of Nagaland, KNU of Myanmar, and a little far away Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Recently killed Al Qaeda’s chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan makes it easy to figure out that the region has been a breeding ground for terrorist organizations. Inside Bangladesh there are also few terrorist organizations trying to expand movement but
Muhammad Ashikur Rahman
Introduction
Bangladesh has arguably not yet been a safe haven for money launderers, nor a pivot for terrorist financing as there is still absence of phenomena that typically make a country attractive to money launderers. Stable economy and political system, modern financial institutions, lack of effective law to deal organized crime, lenient sentencing, and a country’s location close to a major consuming or producing country are some matters that lure criminals and terrorists into a particular country for the purpose of money laundering and financing of terrorism. But this is not to say the land is entirely rid of these grave concerns as the presence of some phenomena is still worth drawing attention. This existence and absence of phenomena makes a situation of money laundering and financing of terrorism prevalent in different forms in Bangladesh like many other countries. Since it is very hard to trace each penny being laundered and on top of that Bangladesh is still playing layman role on these, the total situation is potentially getting worse than ever before. The purpose of this paper is to show the various forms and means of money laundering and financing of terrorism and the initiatives Bangladesh’s government has taken so far on the issues from a critical perspective.
Bangladesh is bounded by India to the west, the north and the north-east, by Myanmar to the south-east. The surrounding regions recently witness significant rise of terrorism by many fundamentalist and guerrilla groups commonly known as ULFA of Asham, NSCN of Nagaland, KNU of Myanmar, and a little far away Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Recently killed Al Qaeda’s chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan makes it easy to figure out that the region has been a breeding ground for terrorist organizations. Inside Bangladesh there are also few terrorist organizations trying to expand movement but
Links: BANGLADESH BANK (2010), Guidance Notes on Prevention of Money Laundering Financial Action Task force (FATF) 2008, Terrorist Financing GUIDANCE FOR THE UK FINANCIAL SECTOR, PART I; (Amended: November 2009), Prevention of Money Laundering/Combating terrorist financing JAMUNA BANK LIMITED (2009), Guidelines on Anti-money Laundering & Combating the Financing of Terrorism Kutubi, Shawgat S THONY, Jean-François (2000), Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing: An Overview THONY, Jean-François (1997), Processing Financial information in Money Laundering UNODC Participants Book (2011), Training on Anti-money Laundering and Criminalizing of Terrorism in Bangladesh