Revenue board, central bank take the move to check money laundering, fraudulent acts
The National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Bank have taken an initiative to conduct all types of import and export related procedures through online system instead of exiting manual system in a bid to check money laundering and fraudulent acts.
The importers and exporters will not need to go to scheduled banks to fill up the letters of credit authorisation forms to open LCs and to submit the export forms under the new system resulting that it will save the time for the businesspeople, a BB official told New Age on Wednesday.
The new online system for export and import has been named as National Single Window since the businessmen will be able to complete their all types of procedures through the online system, he said.
The government has already formed an NSU working group headed by NBR member Khondaker Muhammad Aminur Rahman to set up the new system.
Representatives of the central bank, chief controller of Imports and Exports Office, Chittagong Port Authority and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry have been attached with the working group.
The working group organised two meetings in this connection between September 28 and October 21 and it set an initial deadline of six months to introduce the new system.
Under the new system, the importers will be able to fill up LC authorisation form by collecting it from the banks’ web site after which he or she will send the scanned copy to the bank concerned.
The bank concerned will send the LC related information to the BB and it (central bank) will send the related data to the Customs Department of the NBR through the online system.
Under the export and import process, the exporters have to send the documents of the import related products to the LC opening banks before forwarding the products.
The banks will place the documents to the Customs Department and the BB through online. The Customs Department will verify the import products by matching the documents and the BB data.
The BB and NBR will take punitive measure against the clients and banks if they declared any wrong information in the LC opening forms.
Some businesspeople usually submit fake documents in the banks and Customs Department to launder money abroad without settling any import, the official said.
The BB and Customs Department cannot verify fake documents due to the existing manual system.
But, the two organisations will monitor closely the import and export related procedure when the existing manual system will be converted into the online system under the NSU, the central baker said.
-With New Age input
