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Law loopholes plugged

Anti-money laundering ordinance comes into effect

Rejaul Karim Byron
The government has promulgated a new Money Laundering Prevention Ordinance incorporating laws to prevent stock market manipulation, and a provision that says documents provided by foreign governments will be admissible in court for bringing back siphoned off money from abroad.
The new ordinance was promulgated last week scrapping Money Laundering Prevention Act 2009.
With this the anti-money laundering law has been changed three times.
The ordinance was promulgated to meet the conditions of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a global organisation that monitors different countries' compliance with international antimoney laundering and combating financing of terrorism standards.
A finance ministry official said the new ordinance will be passed as an act by the parliament later.
The official said APG set December 31 last year as the deadline for making the new law. If the government had failed to make the law, APG would have issued a statement worldwide which would hamper Bangladesh's international trade.
The new law has provisions for preventing terror financing through any Bangladeshi institution or individual.
It has expanded the list of "Predicate Offence" through which money or wealth amassed through crimes at home or abroad could be laundered.
Ten new crimes have been added to the list which includes stock market related offences as well.
The new law has made it criminal offence to take advantage of price-sensitive information about the stockmarket before their public disclosure — known as insider trading, and also attempts to control the market individually or institution-ally.
Terrorism or financing terrorist activities, violation of intellectual property rights, extortion, environmental crimes, and tax related crimes have also been included.
The new law has also expanded the list of organisa-tions that must submit reports to the central bank about suspicious transactions using them. The stockmarket and non-government organisations have been added to the list
Bangladesh's non-profit organisation sector has60,000 registered societies, associations, clubs, and companies. But there was no overall strategy to identify and address money laundering and the risks of terror financing through these organisations.
Stock dealers and brokers, portfolio managers and merchant bankers, security custodians, fund managers, real estate developers, cooperatives, non-profit organisations, trusts, and company service providers have also been newly included in the list.
In the new law the definition of money laundering has been widened as well. It included laundering off money abroad through over invoicing or under invoicing.
Bangladesh for the first time enacted anti-money laundering act in 2002 being pressured by the United Nations. It was amended in 2005. In 2008, the act was again amended through an ordinance, which was ratified by the current parliament in February2009.