Kazi Firoz slams finance minister on money laundering issue

Jatiya Party MP Kazi Firoz Rashid on Thursday came down heavily on finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for what he said his failure to stop laundering of money from Bangladesh.

“Who will be held responsible for money laundering? The minister (finance) does not remain present (in parliament). (I) don’t even know the responsibilities of the ministers. Who does what, there is no accountability. As banks are not accountable, ministers are also not accountable,” he said.

The JP lawmaker said this while speaking on a point of order.

The opposition MP asked how the country will be run if there is no accountability in anywhere.

He said that Bangladesh Bank and the Banking Department of Finance Ministry should decide how the banks will run. “They should be held accountable.”

He demanded the formation of an investigation committee to find out why people's money is being looted and who is responsible.

Citing media reports on looting Tk 1,000 crore allegedly by the former chairman of South Bangla Bank, Amzad Hossain, the JP lawmaker said, he is living in the United States, bought several houses and doing businesses there with the money he smuggled out.

“He did not do this alone. Bangladesh Bank regularly audits every bank. One thousand crore taka was not laundered in one day. What did Bangladesh Bank and the Ministry of Finance do?” questioned Firoz.

Criticizing the finance minister, the Jatiya Party MP said, “We cannot talk about this (money laundering) issue. Finance Minister has never been present here (in parliament). He does not want to hear anything.”

He said that public money is being laundered abroad. Banks have become family affairs. These are not people's banks anymore.