'Reports on money laundering are exaggerated'

Parliament Correspondent: "The issue of capital outflow is nothing but a big issue in fact. I won’t say no money is sent out of the country. But the amount as reported by local media can be considered exaggerated in reality,” said Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.

The minister came up with the remark while giving his statement in parliament under section 300 of the rules of procedure of the House on Tuesday, following recent media reports that deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks had increased significantly.

Claiming that the reports published by the local media on money laundering by Bangladeshi depositors in Swiss banks are exaggerated, Muhith said the journalists have called this as laundering very unfairly.

Muhith said the trade transaction through banking channel between Bangladesh and Switzerland has seen a substantial rise. “So, actually it’s not capital flight at all.”

Bangladesh Finance Intelligence Unit of Bangladesh Bank collected additional information on the issue and prepared a report attaching the highest importance to it, he said. “The report has already been submitted to the Finance Ministry.”

The finance minister said, “Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of Bangladesh Bank recently made an analysis report on deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss Bank to launder money. The FIUs recently submitted the report to the finance ministry. All this talk about money being laundered in Swiss banks is exaggerated. But I do not say there is no money laundered from Bangladesh there.”

The minister said the media ran reports on the capital outflow with importance mentioning that the amount of money Bangladeshis deposited in Swiss banks increased to US$ 694.43 million in 2016, which was US$ 582.43 million in 2015.

As per the report, Swiss banks owed a total of Tk 5,560.5 crore to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh owed a total of Tk 1,823 crore to Swiss banks in 2016.

Of Tk 5,560.5 crore, the share of personal deposit is only 7 percent (Tk 399.8 crore), he added.

In 2015, Swiss banks owed a total of Tk 4,627.1 crore to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh owed a total of Tk 867.6 crore to Swiss banks, he mentioned.

risingbd/DHAKA/July 11, 2017/M A Rahman/Amirul