Bangladesh

Bangladesh enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act (the “Act”) in 2002. Money laundering has been defined in the Act as a) directly or indirectly acquiring assets in an illegal way; and b) the transfer, conversion and concealment of assets acquired directly or indirectly in an illegal way. This definition was modified by the enactment of The Money Laundering Prevention Ordinance 2008 on 29 April 2008. The definition has been extended to cover various processes through which the crime is being committed. Section 2(k) of the law provides the definition of money laundering, which modifies the previous definition by extending it to include predicate offences and to the transfer of concealed money to other countries from Bangladesh or receiving such money from other countries into Bangladesh.

The money laundering offences in Bangladesh are:

• It is an offence for any person to illegally conceal, retain, transfer, remit or invest in moveable or immovable property even when it is earned through legitimate means. The person concerned can defend himself if he can prove that the offence was committed without his knowledge or it occurred despite his best efforts to prevent it.

• It is an offence for any individual or entity to provide assistance to a criminal to obtain, retain, transfer, remit, conceal or invest in moveable or immovable property if that person knows or suspects that the property is a proceed of criminal conduct.

• It is an offence for banks, financial institutions and other institutions engaged in financial activities not to retain identification and transaction records of their customers.

• It is an offence for banks, financial institutions and other institutions engaged in financial activities not to report the knowledge or suspicion of money laundering to the Bangladesh Bank as soon as reasonably practicable after obtaining knowledge of such information or suspicion.

• It is an offence for anyone to prejudice an investigation by informing i.e. tipping off the person who is the subject of a suspicion, or any third party, that a report has been made or that the authorities are acting or are proposing to act in connection with an investigation into money laundering. Preliminary enquiries of a customer to verify identity or to ascertain the source of funds or the precise nature of the transaction undertaken will not trigger a tipping off offence before a report has been submitted in respect of that customer unless the enquirer knows that an investigation is underway or that the enquiries are likely to prejudice an investigation. Where it is known or suspected that a suspicious transaction report has already been disclosed to the authorities and it becomes necessary to make further enquiries, care should be taken to ensure that customers do not become aware that their names have been brought to the attention of the law enforcement agencies.

• It is an offence for any person to violate any freezing order issued by the Court based on an application made by the Bangladesh Bank.

• It is an offence if a person refuses to cooperate with the enquiry officer during the process of the investigation unless he has reasonable grounds to so refuse.
  

Anti-Money Laundering Legislation:

• Money Laundering Prevention Act 2002
• Money Laundering Prevention (amendment) Ordinance 2007
• The 2002 law has been succeeded by The Money Laundering Prevention Ordinance 2008, which was promulgated on 29th April 2008
  

Information provided by:

Chowdhury Ataur Rahman Azad
M.A LL.B Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Chairman & Managing Partner, Azad & Associates
House No- 25 (Asia Garden) Road No- 4 Block- J
Shahjalal Uposhahar
Under Sylhet City Corporation
Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh