Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 is the applicable law in this regard In response to the growing concern about money laundering, Bangladesh had enacted the Money Laundering Prevention Act (MLPA), 2002. Subsequently MLPA, 2009 was enacted to expand the definition of money laundering, and the coverage of the offence. To strengthen the anti-money laundering regime of Bangladesh, and meet the international standards, Money Laundering Prevention Act (MLPA), 2012 has been promulgated repealing the previous legislations. Recently Bangladesh has been dropped from the grey list of countries which need to improve their enforcement of laws on money laundering and terrorism financing activities.
What is money launderingMoney laundering means knowingly moving, converting, or transferring property involved in an offence for the following purposes:
l Concealing or disguising the illicit nature, source, location, ownership or control of the proceeds of crime
l Assisting any person involved in the commission of the predicate offence to evade the legal consequences of such offence
l Smuggling money or property earned through legal or illegal means to a foreign country
l Knowingly transferring or remitting the proceeds of crime to a foreign country or remitting or bringing them into Bangladesh from a foreign country with the intention of hiding or disguising its illegal source
l Concluding or attempting to conclude financial transactions in such a manner so as to reporting requirement under this Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 may be avoided
l Converting or moving or transferring property with the intention to instigate or assist for committing a predicate offence
l Acquiring, possessing or using any property, knowing that such property is the proceeds of a predicate offence
l Performing such activities so as to the illegal source of the proceeds of crime may be concealed or disguised
l Participating in, associating with conspiring, attempting, abetting, instigate or counsel to commit any offences mentioned above
Smuggling of money or propertySmuggling of money or property means:
l Transfer or holding money or property outside the country in breach of the existing laws in the country
l Refrain from repatriating money or property from abroad in which Bangladesh has
l an interest and was due to be repatriated
l Not bringing into the country the actual dues from a foreign country, or paying to a foreign country in excess of the actual dues
Suspicious transactionsThe following transactions are considered as suspicious transactions under the law:
l Which deviates from usual transactions
l Of which there is ground to suspect that, the property is the proceeds of an offence, or it is financing any terrorist activity, a terrorist group or an individual terrorist
l Any other transaction or attempt of transaction delineated in the instructions issued by Bangladesh bank from time to time
Predicate offencePredicate offence means the offences mentioned below, by committing which within or outside the country, the money or property derived from is laundered or attempt to be laundered, namely:
(1) corruption and bribery (2) counterfeiting currency (3) counterfeiting deeds and documents (4) extortion (5) fraud; (6) forgery (7) illegal trade of firearms (
illegal trade in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and substances causing intoxication (9) illegal trade in stolen and other goods (10) kidnapping, illegal restrain and hostage taking (11) murder, grievous physical injury (12) trafficking of women and children (13) black marketing (14) smuggling of domestic and foreign currency (15) theft or robbery or dacoity or piracy or hijacking of aircraft (16) human trafficking (17) dowry (18) smuggling and offences related to customs and excise duties (19) tax related offences (20) infringement of intellectual property rights (21) terrorism or financing in terrorist activities (22) adulteration or the manufacture of goods through infringement of title (23) offences relating to the environment (24) sexual exploitation (25) insider trading and market manipulation (26) organized crime, and participation in organized criminal groups (27) racketeering and (28) any other offence declared as predicate offence by Bangladesh Bank.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU)To watch over the illegal financial transactions, a separate unit called the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) within Bangladesh Bank is to be instituted. To combat money laundering BFIU can take following actions:
l Collect information from the governmental, semi-governmental, autonomous organisations or any other relevant institutions or organisations preserved or gathered by them.
l Provide other law enforcement agencies with the information relating to money laundering and terrorist financing.
l Provide information relating to money laundering or terrorist financing or any suspicious transactions to the financial intelligence unit of another country on the basis of any contract or agreement entered into with that country under the provisions of this Act and may ask for any such information from any other country.
l Provide such information to the financial intelligence units of other countries spontaneously where there is no such contract or agreement.
- See more at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/mar/27/mind-your-money#sthash.B0XbSUnB.dpuf
