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| Bangladesh |
| Green CrescentŽs foreign funds received illegally |
| 2009-04-25 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Bangladeshi-born British citizen Faisal Mostafa's NGO in Bhola has been regularly receiving foreign funds for its operation though it has no legal permit to receive so. The NGO, Green Crescent, is only registered with the department of social services in Doulatkhan upazila of Bhola, which does not permit it to receive foreign funds for its operation on a regular basis. In order to do so, the organisation would need to obtain a registration from the NGO Bureau. "No one can receive or collect foreign funds without having registered with the NGO Bureau after satisfying the bureau's requirements through the submission of specified documents," the Bhola district social welfare officer told The Daily Star. In a span of just 28 days between November 19 and December 17 in 2007, a total Tk 25 lakh was deposited in the NGO's account (no 6267) with Uttara Bank's Daulatkhan Branch through three pay orders through Sonali Bank. On November 19 of 2007, Tk 3.03 lakh was deposited in the account through pay order no 6767918, Tk 5.60 lakh through pay order no 6767947 on November 29 and Tk 17.45 lakh through pay order no 6767978 on December 17. According to rules, it is mandatory that all branches of commercial and scheduled banks submit Cash Transaction Report (CTR report) of any transaction over Tk 5 lakh to the anti-money laundering department (HO) of Bangladesh Bank (BB) head office. The Manager of Daulatkhan Branch of Uttara Bank Shahidul Islam said he sent a transaction report to the head office of his bank. The head office is supposed to send a copy of the report to the Anti-Money Laundering Department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB). No legal or punitive measures were taken against the account holders or the NGO despite these transactions breaking the law in 2007. The BB authorities have, however, recently begun an investigation into the matter and they have already collected some documents from them in this regard, Shahidul said. The procedures that follows now would require the BAMLCO (branch anti money laundering compliance officer) in charge of the section to enquire of the bank manager and customer to show the cause of these abnormal transactions and to submit documents regarding these foreign funds. After collecting this information, if the BAMLCO is not satisfied then he will mark the account with a suspicious transaction report (STR) and sent the report to the concerned bank head office directing them to submit a detailed transaction profile to BB. If the chief anti-money laundering compliance officer (CAMLCO) of the concerned bank head offices find any abnormal transaction in any account then he has to inform it to the money laundering department (HO) of Bangladesh Bank as per rules and directions. Then BB money laundering department then asks the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) to lodge a case under the Anti-money Laundering Act 2008 if the allegation proved in a primary investigation. Following the arms and ammo haul from Green Crescent madrasa in Ramkeshob village last month, probes by different departments has been collecting facts about the operation of the NGO. Green Crescent, during its registration with the Department of Social Services in Doulatkhan upazila in 1999 did not declare in its charter anything about operating a madrasa or running an orphanage. |
| Posted by:Fred |