Planning Minister MA Mannan said on Friday that although the government has given an opportunity to the money launderers to bring back their smuggled money from abroad in the new fiscal’s budget, the entire matter is morally unacceptable.

Mannan was speaking at a shadow parliament competition organized by Debate for Democracy at the FDC premises in Dhaka.

Mannan said that it is impossible to bring back the total amount of money that has been laundered from Bangladesh over the years.  That’s why the government will be able to bring back only a tiny amount of money at best in this process.

“A section of people in the country have huge amounts of money lying idle in their hands. They are transferring this money to various countries other than Bangladesh. The countries that are receiving this money are giving these people opportunities to invest without checking the sources of this income,” said Mannan.

Mannan added that it won’t be bad if some of this money comes back to Bangladesh. But the money launderers didn’t smuggle their money out to bring it back.

Presiding over the function, Debate for Democracy President Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron said that the government has favored the money launderers through its provision of bringing back laundered money by paying a mere seven percent tax.

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“This fiscal year’s budget has been devised mostly for businessmen and those who embezzle money in various ways. This can send a signal to the people that those who create and unseat governments have been the primary beneficiary of the current budget,” said Kiron.

Debaters from Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU) became champion of the competition by defeating Government Titumir College debaters. Development Specialist Dr SM Morshed and journalists Rizvi Newaz, Kaberi Maitra and Arifur Rahman were the judges of the competition.