Dhaka: Speakers at a roundtable discussion here on Saturday stressed the need for political commitment from all the parties to promote the sense of security to reduce illegal money transfer from the country.

The roundtable, titled ‘Illicit Financial Flow and Our Political Economy’, was jointly organised by the Daily Bonikbarta and Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh (EquityBD) at the Bonikbarta office in Dhaka.

The chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Ministry, Tazul Islam, presided over the roundtable.

In his keynote presentation, Ahsanul Karim of EquityBD noted that among the foreign nationals settling in Malaysia, the Bangladeshi community is the 3rd largest one.

He recommended making it mandatory for dual citizens to submit their income and bank statements, and bring their purchases above $ 2,000 under the banking channel.

Bangladesh Bank governor Salahuddin urged for stricter compliance of rules and stronger role of the regulatory bodies in this regard.

MA Taslim, chairman of Department of Economics at Dhaka University, mentioned that there should be a study to find out if the illegal money transfer by people is related to hassles and insecurity in business.

Rashid Al Titumir of Dhaka University said illicit flow takes place from the stock of money which is being accumulated out of public fund embezzlement. So, corruption related to public fund has to be contained, he said.

Former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur mentioned that illicit money flow is multidimensional and it will happen even during political certainty if there is no good governance.