'Begumpara, in Toronto, the capital city of Canada, is widely known to the common Bangladeshi people as a neighborhood of palatial houses built with illegally smuggled money from Bangladesh abroad. Many people will be surprised to hear that there is no specific place called Begumpara in Toronto or its surrounding cities. This 'Begumpara'The term is taken from Begampura, a film by an Indian documentary filmmaker, and their context is different. 

But many Bangladeshi politicians, opportunistic bureaucrats, businessmen close to the top echelon of power looted thousands of crores of rupees and are now missing. They are living a luxurious life in Canada's Begumpara, Dubai, Malaysia-Singapore by looting the money of the common people of the country through various irregularities. 

And he used to steal this money and send his wife and children to live a luxurious life in Begumpara or second home. Begumpara has become a symbol of Bangladeshi rich people making an 'illegal paradise' abroad. No one feels any sympathy for Begum Sahebad of Begumpara. Because, they have voluntarily taken this decision to be active in money launderingAs an associate. Meanwhile, after the fall of the Awami League government in the anti-discrimination student movement on August 5, it is said that many people have joined the Begums. 

After the interim government came to power, it is known that the number of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen who fled the country to Canada's 'Begumpara' or second home has increased. It is also known from various sources that they are migrating to those developed countries in various ways due to the fear of lawsuits, jail-fines and punishments. But the govtThey have taken a strict stand to bring back their money. The Chief Adviser and the Finance Adviser have already finalized the task force formation process to recover at least one lakh crore of laundered rupees. The recovery process will be visible very soon. 

National Daily Kale Kantha has published a report titled 'Begumparay Chutchen Sahebra'. 

According to the report, Awami League's joint general secretary and former member of parliament Mahbubul Alam Hanif. His two sons Fahim Afsar Alam and Farhan Sadiq Alam and daughter Tanisha Alam live in Toronto, Canada. Hanif's elder brother Rafiqul Alam Chunnu also lives with the family in Canada. The wife and children of this former member of parliament and other family membersMembers own luxury homes, cars and businesses. Although Mahbubul Alam Hanif's children went abroad for higher education. 

Meanwhile, Farzana Rahman Ipsita, the daughter of former NBR officer Matiur Rahman, who retired in the goat incident, has a house in Barrie City, Canada. He bought the house on January 12 of this year for 888 thousand Canadian dollars. At this time, about 10,500 Canadian dollars were spent on registration and land transfer fees. That is, Ipsita had to spend about 9 crores in Bangladeshi taka to become the owner of the house. 

Apart from this, numerous influential political leaders, corrupt bureaucrats, engineers, police, clothing factory owners, bank and financial institution managers have also bought assets anonymously in Begumpara, Canada. Some of them are luxurious by owning expensive houses and cars in many countries including the United States, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore. living life Controversial businessman S Alam has been reported to have looted lakhs of rupees from six-seven banks. He built an empire in Singapore with this money. Muhammad Aziz Khan of Summit Group has become one of Singapore's top 10 richest people with the country's money. Data shows that such examples are numerous. But powerBeing in the center, none of them could be caught for so long. 

In the last 16 years, they have laundered huge amounts of money through illegal channels and hundis through over and under invoicing. Now a strong effort has been started to bring back this laundered money. In the meantime, many bank accounts in the country have been seized. Inquiring abroad. Bangladesh Financial IntelligenceAll the agencies of the government, including the unit (BFIU), have started functioning. 

The chief adviser of the interim government. Muhammad Yunus said that one of the priorities of this government is to bring back the billions of dollars smuggled during the 15-year dictatorial regime of Sheikh Hasina. 

Meanwhile, a task force was recently ordered to be formed to bring back the smuggled money, which was finalized on Sunday (September 8). The recovery process will be visible very soon. Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said these things. 

According to the review of the data of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a US-based research institute, during the last one and a half decade rule of the Awami League government, at least 14 thousand 920 crores or 149.20 billion dollars have been smuggled out of the country. The amount of money smuggled in Bangladeshi currency is at least 17 lakh 60 thousand crores(Rs. 118 per dollar). This trend continued despite the severe dollar crisis during the Awami League government. 

According to the GFI report, an average of 64 thousand crore taka is being smuggled abroad from Bangladesh every year through over and under invoicing under the guise of international trade. In the five years from 2016 to 2020, smugglers have smuggled Tk 320,000 crore, of which Tk 98,000 was smuggled in one year in 2015 alone. crores of rupees. Considering the amount of trafficked money, Bangladesh is the second most trafficked country in South Asia in 2019. 

According to the information of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, mainly during import and export, the real value of the goods is hidden, bill manipulation, bribery, corruption, income tax concealment etc. have been smuggled abroad. Although the government has some policies to prevent money laundering, it is possible to prevent money laundering from the country due to lack of proper and effective implementation. not happening Reforms to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2012 have been talked about but have not been implemented till date. 

According to the annual report of the Central Bank of Switzerland, at the end of December 2023, the deposits of Bangladeshis with Swiss banks are 234 crore taka or one crore 77 lakh franc (132 taka per franc). However, smugglers now use money in many countries including USA, Canada, Australia, Malaysia as an alternative to Swiss banksIt is known to be smuggling. 

Al-Amin, Associate Professor of Accounting and Information Systems Department of Dhaka University, said, "Thousands of crores of taka have been looted under the cover of various development projects in the last 15 years. This money has been smuggled in the name of wife and children through hundi and over invoicing. Bank account and BO onlyIt is not possible to bring the assets of the corrupt back to the country by freezing the accounts. The process of identifying them and confiscating those assets should be started through investigation. 

Executive Director of Transparency International. Iftekharuzzaman told the media that there is a policy to bring back the smuggled money. In the light of this policy, the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank, BFIU, ACC, NBR, CID and all concerned should work in coordination. It is possible to recover the money by identifying the countries where the smuggling took place and making an agreement. AThe process also involved the repatriation of money that someone had smuggled out of Singapore long ago. The initiative taken by the interim government to bring back the laundered money is commendable. If that can be done, then an example will be set in the country. 

Former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and chairman of the Social Development Foundation (SDF). Mohammad Abdul Majeed said, "No one smuggles someone's hard-earned money abroad. Of course money earned through corruption and irregularities is smuggled abroad. There is no opportunity to show the money earned through irregularities in the income tax documents. 

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