ACC sets June 30 deadline to complete probes into Panama, Paradise Paper leaks
Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Iqbal Mahmood on Wednesday ordered all ACC officials to complete enquiries by June 30 against individuals or entities whose names have been appeared in Panama Paper and Paradise Paper leaks.
He made the order in an urgent meeting with the secretary, all director generals, and directors of detective units of the ACC at its head office in Dhaka.
A senior official of the commission confirmed the information to UNB.
Ordering to complete the all ongoing enquiry and investigation within the deadline set by the ACC, the chairman of the commission said ‘ACC does not only conduct preventive activities, it is prosecuting agency too. So you will (officials) have to complete all activities by deadline following all legal process.’
Names of many Bangladeshis have been appeared in Panama, Paradise and other leaks on the murky world of illicit offshore finance.
The names of Bangladeshis, including controversial businessman Moosa Bin Shamsher have appeared in the much-talked-about Paradise Papers, a leak of more than 13 million confidential files relating to illicit offshore finance.
The documents claimed that Moosa Bin Shamsher registered a company named Venus Overseas in 2010 in Malta, an offshore tax haven while another Bangladeshi Shahnaz Huda Razzak registered two companies — Ocean Ice Shipping and Priyam Shipping in Malta between 1999 and 2001, according to the leaked documents.
Alongside, US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists also revealed Bangladeshis’ entities and individuals to its leaks database of Panama Papers.
The leaks show that the names of the entities are largely foreign sounding but the addresses used are located in Bangladesh.
The data, collated by the ICIJ, comes from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and includes information about companies, trusts, foundations and funds incorporated in 21 tax havens which contains information on almost 320,000 offshore entities that are part of the Panama Papers and the Offshore Leaks investigations.
