The high jump in the rate of Bangladesh’s grain import from Canada which catapulted from $438 million in 2018 to $1.08 billion in 2019 representing 128.31 per cent rise has placed the country on the fourth spot of largest buyer of Canadian grains after Chine, Japan and the United States. This sudden rise has caused a suspicious scene as big traders of Chittagong and Dhaka are not in the picture of the huge increase in the import of grains from Canada. However, a leading Canadian agricultural publication, The Western Producer has suspected that a part of the large import of grains from Canada might have found its way into India, Bangladesh’s next-door neighbor. India, it said, has started placing tariffs and quotas on a wide variety of imported farm produces in an effort to offer better prices to its farmers. Some Bangladesh nationals are being accused of amassing wealth through illegal means and then transferring the proceeds to Canada where some of them have already relocated their families to and also looking for a better avenue to also run away to stay with the families permanently.
Funds siphoned off from countries like Bangladesh are now flowing into some of the Canadian provinces as the anti-money laundering in Canada is not that stringent. The majority Bangladeshis living in that country are increasingly becoming vocal against these ‘plunderers’ of national wealth. They have, reportedly, organized protest meetings against the latter in a number of Canadian cities and towns. Even the issue might be taken to the notice of the state financial monitoring agencies, according to a media report. The alleged transfer of huge funds, embezzled from the People’s Leasing, a non-bank financial institute (NBFI), and other financial institutions, by one PK Halder to Canada does only strengthen the suspicion about the transfer of funds to other countries using shady trade transactions. There prevails a strong suspicion that the scope of amassing wealth using illegal means has expanded in recent years. Some people, allegedly, using their links with powerful quarters have been making money with ease.
Conclusively, the Bangladesh government has been enjoined to look into the sudden rise in the rate of imported grains from Canada as the transactions seem suspicious.
