Bangladesh Bank has imposed strict supervision to stop money laundering under the guise of imports. From now on, the price and quality of imported products should be verified in accordance with international market rates. At the same time all the information of the imported product should be mentioned in the LC. The importer or his domestic agent is asked to provide several details including full details of the product, quality, brand, date of manufacture, packaging information and grade. The product identification HScode should be written clearly and appropriately. Bank cannot accept any LC without these clarifications.
In a circular to commercial banks on Monday (September 18), Bangladesh Bank said that information about products imported from abroad should be provided in such a way that the quality of the products can be distinguished and the price and quantity per unit can be verified.
A circular has been issued by Bangladesh Bank and sent to the chief executives of commercial banks. It will be effective immediately. At the same time, the circular has been directed to be communicated to all concerned importers and exporters. According to sources, money is being smuggled from the country through banks under the guise of imports for a long time. Among them, money is being smuggled under the guise of importing from the country by showing higher prices of imported products, bringing less products to the country by paying more prices, and bringing new products to the country by paying the price of good products. This kind of incident has been caught in several investigations of the Central Bank. In this context, the central bank has given instructions to write the price, value, unit, quantity and HScode of the concerned product correctly while opening LC of import. From now on, if you want to open an LC, you have to follow these instructions. Also LC cannot be opened.
According to the circular, the preforma invoice (PI) sent by the exporter or the indent provided by their domestic agent should contain detailed information about the imported goods. This should include full description of the product, value, brand, date of manufacture, packaging information and grade (if any), by which the quality of the product can be distinguished and price and quantity per unit should be duly entered. In case of import of multiple products through the same PI, details of each product, value, brand, date of manufacture, packaging information and grade (if any) by which the quality of the product can be distinguished and price and quantity per unit should be entered separately.
In case of import of different goods through the same PI, generally all the goods should be presented in units applicable to their nature rather than measured in a specific unit like kg, liter or piece etc.
The circular further states that the criteria approved by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and applicable transport fares shall be duly mentioned. 2 digits after 6 digits of HScode (total 8 digits in full) should be mentioned for specific identification of imported goods. According to sources, if the product details and HScode are not properly written in the LC, the product cannot be identified and it also creates complications when it comes to customs clearance. Customs evasion is also happening through this.
