Our two expatriates: One brings dollars and the other siphons it 

Illustration: TBS

On a recent trip to Bangladesh, I met a Bangladeshi overseas worker in Qatar. His seat was next to mine on a Qatar Airways flight to Dhaka.  He looked pale, and tired but at the same time happy. "I was about to miss the flight. It was a hectic day," he said. 

"Do you live in Qatar?" he asked me while arranging his carry-on luggage in the cabin. When I told him that I live in the United States and had a layover in Qatar, he was very interested to learn how to migrate to the US and about life there. "You don't have a life in the Middle East as a worker," he said. I could see the sadness on his face. 

We continued the conversation till the flight touched Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. In the five-hour conversation with Asif Islam (as he told me by his name), I learned about the struggles of construction workers in Qatar. "No one in Bangladesh can imagine how hard-working it is," he told me.

"But I feel good when I send money to my family," he said, smiling widely for the first time in our conversation. 

Asif's money to his homeland also makes our policymakers happy. The more Bangladeshi expatriate workers send money, the happier our policymakers are. When they stop sending money or are slow in sending money, it becomes the talk of the country. 

Economists appear on television cameras and at the discussions at roundtables in the five-star hotel's ballrooms, giving the finance minister advice on how to make the expatriate workers reliable in sending money through the banking channels.  

The whole economy is dependent on the hard-earned riyals of our Middle East expatriate workers. If we say the recent development works and multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects were possible – to an extent – thanks to these overseas workers, it won't be an exaggeration. 

Expatriate workers send $22 billion on average yearly. No one can imagine what the economy would look like if these dollars stopped coming to Bangladesh. 

On the same trip, while I was returning to the US, I met a friend who is the brother of a student politician. I could talk to him for a few minutes as he had to take a separate lane on the Qatar Airways flight. He was in business class, and I was in economy. He was travelling to Toronto, Canada, where he lives now. 

In our college life, he was popularly known as "vadaimma" meaning good for nothing. And he proved his childhood friends right because still we do not know what he actually does. But being a brother of a student politician is a full-time job. He told me they have a business in Canada. My immediate question was: how did you make it? The answer was: buijhaa low (you have to understand). I did. But I won't share it with you. After all, he is my friend and I am committed to protecting his secrets. 

It will be naïve to think every Bangladeshi Canadian who lives in Toronto is like my friend who looks after the "hard-earned" money of their relatives. Most of them must be skilled, and honest and have earned everything through hard work. However, Toronto has become the talk of the country in the last few years, popularly known as "Begum para", a reference to the posh neighbourhoods in Toronto where Bangladeshi big fishes and their relatives reside, allegedly by siphoning money from the homeland. 

Whenever there is any discussion of money laundering, "Begum Para" becomes the epicentre of discussion. In 2021, the topic was even discussed in the Bangladeshi parliament. When Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was asked about the number of money launderers following an investigative report in a local daily that the wife of a member of parliament – Shafiqul Islam Shimul – had purchased a house in Toronto of Canada for a million and a half Canadian dollars, the minister said he doesn't "have a list of those who took the money." 

A year before, in 2020 foreign minister AK Abdul Momen acknowledged that a large part of these Bangladeshis who buy houses with a hefty amount of dollars are government servants. A few cases in recent years got public attention all over the country. 

Former Member of Parliament Mohammad Shahidul Islam was accused of laundering 53 million Kuwaiti dinars (Tk1,400 crore). He was later sentenced to four years in Kuwaiti jail. Prasanta Kumar Haldar, a banker reportedly fled to Canada with Tk3,500 crore with the help of Bangladesh Bank officials. 

Studies also support that a large amount of money was siphoned. A Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report in March 2020 said that Bangladesh lost $7.53 billion a year between 2008 and 2017 in capital flight, which mostly happened through trade mis-invoicing.  

In 2021, Transparency International Bangladesh chapter Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman wrote an op-ed in The Business Standard arguing that money laundering goes on because of a lack of political will. Along with mis-invoicing, money is siphoned from the country in different other ways including traditional hundi for immigration or second home, salary transaction of foreign workers, expatriate workers and student expenses. 

"Begum Para in Toronto, Canada, or second home projects in Malaysia and Singapore are quite popular," he wrote in the op-ed adding that they take place through the traditional hundi. Bangladeshi is the second largest customer of Malaysian second home project, Iftekharuzzaman wrote.  

And all these are happening in defiance of laws. 

No Bangladeshi citizen can send more than $12,000 in a year as per the rules. Despite several case studies of siphoning money to Canada, Malaysia and Singapore in violation of law, the concerned authorities have not taken any measures. 

The Money Laundering Prevention Act, of 2002 states that if found guilty, a money launderer will face a punishment of 12 years imprisonment. The siphoned-out money will be seized and exactly twice the siphoned-out amount will be fined. However, we did not see any effective action against the money laundering allegations by either Anti-Corruption Commission or Bangladesh Bank. 

There is very little possibility that our policymakers will have some political will to take action against the alleged money launders. Since most of the allegations are against senior government servants and influential politicians, it is highly unlikely that the siphoning of money will stop any time soon. However, I think a country like Canada has some roles to play. 

The values of rule of law and integrity are at the forefront of Canadian principles. It will be against these principles to keep a blind eye on people who allegedly launder money from a developing country. If you apply for a Visa to Canada, they check everything about the candidate, most importantly the criminal record. And this is for good. One way Canada could help Bangladesh in fighting corruption is to include a clause in Visa or Permanent Residency application. It can ask about the source of the money and ask for proper documentation – more thoroughly and strictly. 

Imagine two incidents. Asif is working at a construction site in Doha, Qatar on a hot summer day in high temperatures and has a long day. At the same time, a former government official or a politician indulges in a luxury tour to a beach in Canada. The two have two different lives – one is responsible to bring dollars to the country, and the other will spend the same dollars on their luxurious lives. 

Mushfique Wadud is a journalist, currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States. He can be reached at [email protected]  

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