48,586 MFS accounts suspended for gambling

State minister for finance Wasika Ayesha Khan said that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit suspended 48,586 personal Mobile Financial Services accounts on charges of involvement in online gambling, betting, and hundi.

She said this while replying to a tabled question from treasury bench lawmaker M Abdul Latif on behalf of finance minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali in the House on Thursday.

Mentioning that the country has been losing foreign currency due to the increase in gambling and hundi, the state minister said that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit and other related law enforcement agencies had been working together to prevent all types of money laundering, including online gambling, betting, and hundi.

She said that transactions through MFS and digital payments increased to a large extent due to the huge scope for financial inclusion in the country.

Taking advantage of this technological development, some unscrupulous gangs are involved in criminal activities such as online gambling, gaming, forex, cryptocurrency trading, and hundi, Wasika informed.

‘As a result, money laundering is increasing, and the country is losing a lot of foreign currency, triggering the sufferings of the country’s economy,’ she added.

The state minister said that so far, 5,766 agents had been sent to CID to take legal action against them. Of them, the government cancelled 5,029 MFS agents on suspicion of involvement in hundi transactions.

She informed the House that 21 money changer agents and 39 accounts related to them were sent to the CID on suspicion of association with hundi.

As many as 10,666 MFS agent accounts were blocked for their alleged involvement in hundi, gaming, betting, and cryptocurrency as per the instructions of BFIU, she added.