Scope of legalising laundered money given as per law: Kamal

PBC News:  Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has expressed the hope that the laundered money will return to the country.

“We’ll try our best to bring the siphoned off money back to the country,” he said. “We have given the scope of bringing the laundered money back in accordance with law in the proposed budget.”

The Finance Minister made the remarks while addressing a post-budget press conference at Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital on Friday.

According to the tradition, the Finance Minister explains different aspects of the budget on the following day after placing it in Jatiya Sangsad.

Earlier in the morning, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local think-tank, said that the government’s move to bring laundered money back into the country in the proposed budget is ‘utterly immoral and unethical’.

Despite the initiative of the government, no individual will bring the laundered money back to the country, the CPD also mentioned.

Almost all the economists have echoed the same thing following the announcement of the budget for fiscal 2022-23.

When his attention was drawn to the CPD’s observation, the Finance Minister said: “There are many countries in the world which provided the same opportunities at different times. The United States has also done this. We have given this opportunity taking the overall situation into consideration. The country’s people have the lawful right in this laundered money. We will try our best to bring the money back. We hope that we will be successful in our initiative.”

Kamal also expressed the hope that the implementation of the proposed national budget would make the economy stronger and more vibrant.

“Hopefully our economy will be stronger and more vibrant with the implementation of this budget,” he said.

The finance minister unveiled the Tk 6,78,064 crore national budget for 2022-2023 fiscal with special focus on economic recovery from uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Education Minister Dipu Moni, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, among others, were present.