NBR chief suspects money laundering in guise of FDI
National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Abdul Mazid Wednesday called for calculating the balance-sheet on the foreign direct investment as the government''s revenue chief suspects undercover money smuggling in the name of FDI, reports UNB.
"This is time we calculated the balance-sheet of the FDI," he said on a note of skepticism at a pre-budget meeting with the representatives from computer, ICT and telecommunications sectors in the NBR conference room.
He raised a serious allegation that in the name of FDI (foreign direct investment) people from abroad came in Bangladesh and took syndicated loans from banks and did business.
"Where is the FDI in this? You do business with the money from local sources, create employment of few people but send huge amounts of foreign currency to the native country," he said, indicating the state of business being done here by a section of foreign investors.
The NBR chairman categorically stated that this type of FDI and investment won''t be entertained in the next budget as the country is now stepping ahead towards graduating into a mid-level economy (shedding its LDC tag).
He also opined against the import of those types of software which are produced by local software manufacturers. "The government wants to facilitate the local software manufacturers," he said.
Association of Mobile Telecom Operators in Bangladesh (AMTOB) president Fazlur Rahman urged tax waiver on SIM (subscriber identity module). "This tax totally blocked the growth of telecommunications of the country," he said.
Bangladesh Computer Samity President Mostafa Jabbar noted that information technology is the only tool to provide employment to the educated unemployed people.
He pleaded for total duty waiver on computer and computer-related accessories, which are still too costly for the commoners to afford.
The IT sector leader also said that the government should consider VAT waiver on the internet users as the present government in its manifesto pledged to build a digital Bangladesh by 2021.
Mostaf Jabbar, a pioneer in IT, the present world''s fastest-growing sector, opened Pandora''s Box as he alleged that banks and corporate houses of the country are engaged in "money laundering in the name of software import".
"Higher tax and supplementary duty should be imposed on the import of software that the local software manufacturers are producing," he said.
Monjur Ahmed of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex body of country''s business community, corroborated Jabbar''s allegations, saying that money laundering is going on in the name of software import.
"This should be stopped. NBR should not allow import of software that is produced by the local companies. Higher supplementary duties can protect the local producers," he said.
Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Habibullah Karim urged the government to announce the income-tax-exemption facility for the software manufacturing sector till 2017.
"This will facilitate local and foreign investors to invest more in the country and the employment opportunity will increase a lot," he said.
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