[🇧🇩] Corruption Watch

[Saif]

532 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai: report

A six-month-long joint investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Norwegian outlet E24 uncovered scores of convicted criminals,...

www.newagebd.net

532 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai: report
Staff Correspondent 17 May, 2024, 00:45

| UNB/ AP file photo.

A six-month-long joint investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Norwegian outlet E24 uncovered scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, political figures, and sanctioned individuals, including 532 Bangladeshis, owning real estate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Without providing any further details regarding their identities, the OCCRP report titled 'Dubai Unlocked' shows 532 Bangladeshi nationals owning 641 properties in Dubai, with the total value of their real estate exceeding $225 million.

According to the findings of 2022 data, assessed by economists and reporters from 74 partners in 58 countries, the number of residential properties owned by foreigners put Indians first, at 35,000 properties and 29,700 owners, with the total value of these properties estimated at $17 billion.

The OCCRP said that owners with Pakistani nationality come in second among foreigners, at 17,000 owners of 23,000 residential properties in Dubai.

In a report, the Pakistani daily Dawn said that the Gulf city is far from the only place where criminals and others have successfully stashed their wealth in luxury properties. New York City and London real estate have also been known to attract dirty money.

But experts say Dubai has a lot to offer, and not just in terms of its vast array of high-end skyscrapers and villas. One pull factor, experts say, has been the emirate's inconsistent responses to requests from foreign authorities for help arresting and extraditing fugitives.

The report came at a time when money flights to Dubai and other countries were widely discussed in Bangladesh.

Amid various discussions, in April last year, following a High Court order, the Anti-Corruption Commission initiated an inquiry into the allegation that 459 Bangladeshi nationals bought properties in Dubai illegally.

In May 2022, a US-based non-profit Center for Advanced Defense Studies published a research paper, highlighting Bangladeshis buying housing assets with money that was laundered mainly in Gulf countries.

According to the report, 459 Bangladeshis own a total of 972 residential properties in Dubai at a cost of $315 million.

Of these assets, 64 are located in the elite Dubai Marina area, and 19 in Palm Jumeirah.

Without mentioning names, the report said that at least 100 villas and less than five buildings are said to be owned by Bangladeshis in these locations.

Besides, 4–5 Bangladeshis own properties worth about $44 million there.

The OCCRP report said that Dubai has long maintained an open-door policy for foreign nationals looking to live and do business there.

It said that the emirate offers a combination of extremely favourable tax regimes, free trade zones with little regulation, a liberalised property market, low-cost residence-by-investment schemes, and, during the pandemic, low restrictions on movement.

As a result of these policies as well as a high demand for migrant workers, Dubai has become a city of foreigners: out of its more than three million inhabitants, only 8 per cent are Emiratis.

'While the Dubai Land Department both publishes detailed aggregate statistics on the real estate sector, as well as detailed micro-data on the status characteristics of specific properties, buildings, and lands in the city, it does not publish any information on foreign ownership of property, neither at the individual property level nor in aggregate,' it said.

'However, as we will describe below, we have access to several datasets at the individual property level that we use to estimate the amount of foreign-held property in the city, as well as the breakdown by each nationality, both directly (by adding up the value of properties visible in the data we have access to) and indirectly (by inferring foreign property ownership rates in areas of the city we have less data coverage for),' it added.​

 

[Saif]

Amnesty to black money in EZs, hi-tech park may go

An amnesty provided to black money invested in economic zones and hi-tech parks is unlikely to be continued from the next fiscal year of 2024-25 as per plans of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

www.thedailystar.net

Amnesty to black money in EZs, hi-tech park may go

Representational image. File photo

An amnesty provided to black money invested in economic zones and hi-tech parks is unlikely to be continued from the next fiscal year of 2024-25 as per plans of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Currently the tax authority does not raise questions about the source of investment if any person invests undisclosed wealth in the construction of factories inside economic zones and high-tech parks and pay a 10 percent tax on the invested amount.

The amnesty was available since the first day of July 2019 and is to last till June 30, 2024, said the NBR in an income tax law 2023.

"As the benefit is going to expire next month, we are not considering extending it further," said a senior official of the NBR.

Bangladesh began establishing economic zones under public and private arrangements over a decade ago to encourage investment, create jobs and enable organised industrialisation.

The authorities of the industrial enclaves offered land, utility services and other investment-related services to encourage investment.

Currently, the public and private sectors are operating 11 economic zones.

Around $4.78 billion has been invested in the economic zones as of June 2023, according to Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority.

Besides, 11 hi-tech parks are in operation where Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) has allotted land and space to 230 firms.

It has given co-working space rent free to 151 startups. The investment in the parks contributed to the creation of 28,000 jobs, said the BHPTA.

Apart from the amnesty's discontinuation, the NBR may bring changes in a provision in the law that enables undeclared income to be legalised when invested in buildings and flats, according to the NBR.

As per the income tax law, any such investment "will be considered as ones which have already gone through the process of their source being explained" with field officials of the tax administration if a specified amount of tax is paid per square metre area of flats or buildings.

The rate of taxes varies depending on the location of the flats or buildings.​

 

[Saif]

Govt, ACC must investigate people Dubai Unlocked speaks of

THE findings of an investigation of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Norwegian news site E24 that 532 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai could be a ground for Bangladesh authorities to carry forward the investigation and act accordingly...

www.newagebd.net

Govt, ACC must investigate people Dubai Unlocked speaks of
18 May, 2024, 00:00

THE findings of an investigation of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Norwegian news site E24 that 532 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai could be a ground for Bangladesh authorities to carry forward the investigation and act accordingly. The report, Dubai Unlocked, the result of six months' investigation based on data of 2022, says that scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, political figures and sanctioned individuals own real estate in Dubai. The people that the investigation has referred to include 532 Bangladeshis having owned 641 property with their value exceeding $225 million and no further details regarding their identity have been furnished. The reality at hand warrants that the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission should immediately launch an investigation of the issue, find the people who own real estate in Dubai, examine the source of their income and establish whether they have siphoned off the money to buy property there. The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project says that while the Dubai Land Development publishes detailed aggregate statistics on the real estate sector and detailed micro-data on the status characteristics of specific property, it does not publish information on foreign ownership of property. But the agency notes that it has access to several datasets at the individual property level as well as the break down by each nationality.

While the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission should launch the investigation, the Anti-Corruption Commission has been heard of doing almost nothing, at least nothing noticeable, after it said in April 2023 that it would investigate the allegations that 459 Bangladeshis bought property in Dubai illegally. The US-based Centre for Advanced Defence Studies in May 2022 published a paper, noting that Bangladeshis bought housing assets mainly in Gulf countries with money laundered there. The paper said that 459 Bangladeshis had owned 972 residential property in Dubai that is valued at $315 million. And of the assets, 64 were in the elite Dubai Marina are and 19 in Palm Jumeirah. Without giving out the names, the paper said that at least 100 villas and less than five buildings are said to have been owned by Bangladeshis on the locations. And, four to five Bangladeshis own property worth about $44 million. After a High Court order of April 2023, the Anti-Corruption Commission said that it would look into the allegations of the Bangladeshis having bought property in Dubai illegally. But after more than a year, nothing has been heard of any Anti-Corruption Commission plan for investigation. Both the reports came to light when illicit financial flows have greatly been in discussion amidst a shortage of the dollar that has been persisting for more than a couple of years.

Both the government and the Anti-Commission Commission must, in such a situation, look into the allegations, levelled by both the May 2022 paper of the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies and the May 2024 Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project report. And, there must not be any dithering about this.​

 

[Saif]

Digitalisation needed to check tax evasion: experts

Experts on Sunday said that digitalisation was needed to check tax evasion in the country...

www.newagebd.net

Digitalisation needed to check tax evasion: experts
Staff Correspondent 19 May, 2024, 22:18

Experts on Sunday said that digitalisation was needed to check tax evasion in the country.

They also said that if Bangladesh could not improve its internal resource management, the country would become prone to economic dependence.

They said these during a dialogue titled 'Digitalisation of the Taxation System in Bangladesh: The Next Frontier for Higher Resource Mobilisation' organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue in partnership with the European Union in the capital Dhaka on the day.

CPD distinguished fellow Mustafizur Rahman, in his key presentation, said that the country had to implement all annual development plans through internal or external loans due to low revenue-GDP ratio.

'We should focus on how we could generate surplus in our revenue budget, which we are currently unable to do', he said.

'As we are graduating from the LDC list, loans are getting costlier', he added.

Mustafizur showed in his presentation that about 20 per cent of revenue expenditure in the financial year 2023-24 was done on servicing interest payments for domestic and foreign borrowings only.

He said that, in Bangladesh, tax elasticity and tax buoyancy had been low and digitalisation could improve the situation.

Digitalisation could help detect tax avoidance and reduce tax evasion, he said.

'Potential increase in tax collection by spending an additional unit of money through various measures, including digitalisation of the taxation system, is the highest in Bangladesh among the developing countries', he further said.

Mustafizur also said that, over the years, the government of Bangladesh, finance ministry and the National Board of Revenue had taken multiple steps to digitalise the tax system but the outcomes remained less than satisfactory.

The CPD recommended embedding technology driven solutions in all of the NBR's activities, capacity building of the NBR and multiple other steps towards the digitalisation of the taxation system.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a CPD distinguished fellow, said that taxpayers feared that arbitrary use of power in the taxation system might put them in a position to be harassed, which could be solved by digitalisation.

'We are talking about digitalisation in the taxation system, but only revenue earning is getting focused. We have to ensure transparency in the expenditures and proper facility to the taxpayers through digitalisation to encourage them to pay taxes', he said.

Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, chairman of the NBR, said that the NBR's helplessness was revealed when the budget was announced every year.

'Without noticing the capacity we have, we are given a target for revenue collection. Without building the capacity first, if the target is increased every year, it becomes tough to achieve said target', he said.

State minister for finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan said that the current government was trying to make smart Bangladesh from digital Bangladesh.

'Last year, we announced some exemption from corporate taxes if businesses made bank transactions. But many people objected to that. How can we achieve our target if big business people want to make transactions with cash money?' she added

Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD, chaired the session, with other government officials and experts present in the dialogue.​

 

[Saif]

Bribes for licence renewal: Business-friendly environment needs more than words

Discover the reality of creating a business-friendly environment in Bangladesh as businessmen face exorbitant fees and corruption in license renewals.

en.prothomalo.com

Bribes for licence renewal: Business-friendly environment needs more than words
Editorial Desk
Published: 19 May 2024, 17: 03

Policymakers of the government have long been speaking of creating a business-friendly environment in order to expand business and trade as well as increasing investment inside and outside of the country. But the reflection of that cannot be found in reality.

Businessmen in the readymade garments industry have to pay up to six times as much as the government-fixed fees for renewing the license required to do business.

It came up in a research of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) that an extra 5,000 to 9,000 taka has to be paid for renewing the trade license of any business in Dhaka.

According to the research, it costs 644 per cent more than the government-fixed fees to renew the boiler license and 261 per cent more to renew the bond required for duty-free import of raw materials.

In addition to this, businessmen have to spend 16 per cent extra on trade license, 114 per cent for fire license and 12 per cent in case of export and import registration license.

It also came up in the research that Tk 5,000 to 9,000 has to be spent additionally compared to the fees fixed for renewing trade license of any business under Dhaka City Corporation.

Hundred per cent of the major companies, 68 per cent of the medium companies and 62 per cent of the small companies believe corruption to be the number one problem. Meanwhile, 59 per cent of the companies said that bribes have to be paid to get government contract and license.

That means government services cannot be availed without bribing. Not just businessmen even the common public are victimised by this.

From driving licences to birth registration certificates, nothing comes free of bribery. For putting an end to harassment, businessmen have been speaking of one-stop service and licence renewal after five years, but neither has been implemented.

Once the one-stop service is launched officials would no longer be able to collect bribe from every other source, that's why it has been suppressed. The same thing has happened in case of license renewal.

If the licence has to be renewed annually, concerned officials extract additional money every single year after all. The scope to do that would go away if the licences have to be renewed every five years.

The mayors of the two city corporations of Dhaka city almost every day give advices to the city dwellers. However, they are not taking any action against the officials who are extracting extra money from businessmen or people seeking other services.

Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has recently claimed his orghanisation to be the most corruption-free government organisation.

Does charging Tk 5,000-9,000 more than the settled fees is the example of being corruption free? How can the other concerning government agencies engaged in license renewal institutionalise corruption involving bribery?

Among others state minister of commerce, Ahsanul Islam was present at CPD's research presentation event. We'll be waiting to see what steps he takes to stop harassments of the businessmen.

Whereas the local businessmen are falling victim to different types of harassments, why would the foreigners come here with investments? The government is failing to create the environment and infrastructure required for them to come.

There has been a hike in fuel price due to Ukraine war or Israeli aggression on Gaza while, there's a shortage of supply as well. The businessmen have accepted that too. But why do they have to bribe government officials on every step to get their license done and to get them renewed?

If the government really wants to create a business-friendly environment in the country, they have to sweep bribe culture out of the service providing organisations. A business-friendly environment doesn't pop up just from words.​

 

[Saif]

Personal data up for sale online!

Some government employees are selling citizens’ NID card and phone call details through hundreds of Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp groups, the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre has found.

www.thedailystar.net

Personal data up for sale online!
Crooked govt employees selling info from nat'l database to 789 groups on social media

Some government employees are selling citizens' NID card and phone call details through hundreds of Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp groups, the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre has found.

In a letter to the home ministry, the NTMC said private information was being sold through 21 WhatsApp, 48 Telegram, and 720 Facebook groups and pages that have 32 lakh members and followers.

The letter sent on April 28 did not mention how many people's data have been sold.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

An alarming lapse in data security protocols

NTMC's revelation about illicit sale of private data raises concerns

www.thedailystar.net

An alarming lapse in data security protocols
NTMC's revelation about illicit sale of private data raises concerns

VISUAL: STAR

The National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre's (NTMC) recent revelation about the illicit sale of citizens' NID card and phone call details comes as yet another reminder of how susceptible government-stored data is to breaches and exploitations. The fact that government employees themselves have exploited their access to the data—selling it through various social media groups and messaging apps—adds another dimension to this story. For one, it exposes an alarming lapse in the data security protocols. It also means that nothing short of an overhaul of the whole data security infrastructure will be enough to contain this multifaceted threat.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Corporates may get black money-whitening facility in next budget

Black money may make a comeback as the government considers reinstating black money-whitening facility in the new budget, starting with corporate amnesty, trying to resuscitate sluggish economic activity. It comes out as a first-ever step, officials say, to allow corporate taxpayers for wh

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Corporates may get black money-whitening facility in next budget
Taxmen to turn their eyes other way amid financial woes
DOULOT AKTER MALA
Published :
May 23, 2024 00:18
Updated :
May 23, 2024 00:18

Black money may make a comeback as the government considers reinstating black money-whitening facility in the new budget, starting with corporate amnesty, trying to resuscitate sluggish economic activity.

It comes out as a first-ever step, officials say, to allow corporate taxpayers for whitening what is commonly known as black money without facing any question from taxmen.

Corporate taxpayers would be able to show their undisclosed income without disclosing source of money by paying 15-percent tax at a flat rate, official sources said.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Feud over gold stash behind murder

Slain lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar and key suspect Aktaruzzaman used to run a gold smuggling racket until they fell out over money and Azim kept a stash worth over Tk 100 crore to himself, detectives said.

www.thedailystar.net

Feud over gold stash behind murder
Dismembered remains dumped at different locations, say investigators

File photo of Anwarul Azim Anar

Slain lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar and key suspect Aktaruzzaman used to run a gold smuggling racket until they fell out over money and Azim kept a stash worth over Tk 100 crore to himself, detectives said.

Aktaruzzaman, known as Shaheen Mia in his hometown Jhenaidah, used to get gold bars smuggled into Bangladesh from Dubai, while Azim, the ruling Awami League lawmaker from Jhenaidah-4, made sure the shipment reached the hands of the right people in India, said the officers, requesting anonymity.

Sometime last year, Azim told his partner that he wanted a bigger cut of the money, according to sources in the Detective Branch and an intelligence agency.

"Azim-Aktaruzzaman partnership hit rock bottom after Azim received two stashes worth more than Tk 100 crore, but did not have them delivered to the designated location."

— An intelligence officer says on condition of anonymity

"Aktaruzzaman snubbed Azim's proposal, and it created a rift between the two," said an intelligence officer.

"The partnership hit rock bottom after Azim received two stashes worth more than Tk 100 crore, but did not deliver them," said the officer involved in the investigation.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Court orders freezing ex-IGP Benazir’s properties

A Dhaka court today ordered to freeze and attach all moveable and immovable properties of Benazir Ahmed, former inspector general of police, in connection with the allegations of corruption brought against him

www.thedailystar.net

Court orders freezing ex-IGP Benazir's properties

Benazir Ahmed. File photo

A Dhaka court today ordered to freeze and attach all moveable and immovable properties of Benazir Ahmed, former inspector general of police, in connection with the allegations of corruption brought against him.

Of them, 33 bank accounts were frozen and properties of 83 deeds were attached.

Judge Mohammad Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order after ACC Deputy Director Md Hafizul Islam and also the inquiry officer of the matter, submitted an application in this regard, said bench assistant of the court.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​