459 Bangladeshis’ properties in Dubai: HC seeks probe report

The High Court has directed four agencies to submit the report on investigation about properties of 459 Bangladeshi nationals in Dubai within one month.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and National Board of Revenue (NBR) have been ordered to submit the progress report within this period.

The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order on Sunday. It also issued a rule asking about their inactivity in taking action against the 459 Bangladeshi nationals.

A writ petition was filed by Advocate Subir Nandi with the High Court on January 12 seeking necessary directives on this issue. In the writ, he attached a report in this regard published in a national daily.

According to the report, a huge amount of money has been transferred to Dubai from different parts of the globe including Bangladesh openly and secretly.

Based on a report of US-based Centre for Advanced Defense Studies, the EU Tax Observatory said 459 Bangladeshis have purchased properties in Dubai concealing the information in their own country and the number of properties was 972 in 2020.

According to the report, Bangladeshis have purchased properties worth approximately one billion dollar during this period and Bangladeshi people were the top buyers in the real estate sector of Dubai.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now in any way trying to boost foreign investment. For this, it is offering various facilities for rich people from abroad to buy properties.

Experts believe that huge amount of money are being transferred due to the lack of effective and strong measures to stop money laundering, it said.