The number of money laundering cases lodged with the Anti-Corruption Commission increased by more than 25 percent year-on-year in 2014.
The anti-graft watchdog conducted 226 enquiries last year, up from 180 in 2013 and 39 in 2012, according to the ACC’s annual report for 2014.
“The number rose because of our increased efforts in dealing with the cases,” ACC Chairman M Badiuzzaman told The Daily Star.
Though the number of enquiries rose remarkably, there was no development in recovering the siphoned money, mainly due to poor cooperation among the agencies concerned.
On average, illicit outflows eats away 1.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product a year, Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based research organisation, said in a report in June.
The slippage amounts to 12.7 percent of the country’s total tax revenue, according to the study.
On average, $1.31 billion a year was funnelled out of Bangladesh between 2003 and 2012, according to the research organisation.