Committee formed to recover taxes from frozen accounts linked to siphoned assets

The Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance recently issued a notification through its Central Bank Branch as part of an initiative to ensure swift and coordinated recovery of government revenue from accounts frozen under court orders.

According to the notification signed by Deputy Secretary Afroza Akter Riba, the Attorney General has been made convener of the committee.

The other members are an additional secretary of the Financial Institutions Division; the director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s Money Laundering Wing; the chief executive officer of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU); the director general of the National Board of Revenue’s Central Intelligence Cell (CIC); and a deputy inspector general of the Organised Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police.

The director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) under the NBR will serve as member-secretary of the committee.

As part of its terms of reference, the committee will determine the necessary legal and other measures for recovering government duties and taxes from accounts containing assets allegedly siphoned abroad that have been frozen or attached by court orders.

It will review existing laws and regulations and recommend what legal measures should be taken, which procedures could be followed to recover money owed to the state, and how effective coordination among the relevant agencies can be ensured.

Several government agencies are involved in investigating siphoned assets, collecting information, tracing financial transactions and managing assets frozen under court directives. The government considers coordinated efforts among these agencies crucial to the process.

The committee will prepare necessary recommendations and submit them to the appropriate authorities.

Officials said the move would create a coordinated framework not only to advance legal proceedings concerning assets siphoned abroad but also to ensure recovery of government duties and taxes.

The committee has also been formed to strengthen ongoing efforts to recover and repatriate siphoned money and assets while ensuring the government receives its due revenue.

In particular, it will identify legal and administrative complications that may arise in recovering taxes and duties from money or assets frozen abroad under court orders and recommend necessary measures to address them.

-MT