Finance Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed has said that money launderers possess far greater resources than ordinary citizens, making the recovery of smuggled funds a challenging task. He stated that the government is currently negotiating with 12 countries simultaneously to bring back the illicit funds.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday (12 August) at the Multipurpose Hall of the Ministry of Finance in the Secretariat, Dr. Ahmed was joined by Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, Finance Secretary Dr. Md. Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek, and Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiqui.
When asked by journalists whether there would be any visible progress in recovering laundered money by February next year, Dr. Ahmed replied,
“Visible results are perhaps only a hope. But we are negotiating with 12 countries at the same time to bring back the smuggled money. Those who launder money have double the capacity of you and me. It is exhausting to try and recover the funds from the Bangladesh Bank reserve theft that ended up in the Philippines.”
On reforms, the Finance Adviser said, “We have initiated certain processes, and they need to be taken forward. There are weaknesses in some institutions, and efforts have been made to address them. Restoring confidence in the private sector is also underway.”
Commenting on the global situation, he noted that uncertainty is not unique to Bangladesh. “Two or three months ago, businesses were in an uproar, and many still are, but the situation has eased. We have been able to stabilize the dollar exchange rate, and reserves are increasing. There are no longer problems in opening LCs. However, there is still some lack of confidence in the private sector, and we are working to overcome that.”
