BLACK MONEY Kamal: OK up to 'certain level'

Dhaka, June 23 (bdnews24.com) ? The option to whiten black money is acceptable to a 'certain level', says the head of a parliamentary watchdog.

"There are two types of black money ? illegal and immoral (sic). Neither of them is acceptable after a certain level," A H M Mostafa Kamal told reporters after a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry on Thursday.

He said the committee members reached a consensus on recommending the ministry to give the black money holders a chance to whiten it through investing in the share market.

Finance minister A M A Muhith, in the budget for 2001-12 fiscal year, proposed allowing black money in the government treasury bonds, but not in the share market.

The government had kept the money-whitening provision for four sectors, including the capital market, in 2009-10 fiscal year, when around Tk 4.23 billion black money was invested in the market.

Asked whether the committee is in favour of giving a chance to whiten the type of black money for which BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's son Arafat Rahman Coco was convicted earlier in the day, Kamal denied comment on the issue.

Earlier in the day, Dhaka's Third Special Judge's Court sentenced Coco, the youngest son of the opposition leader, to six years in jail and slapped a fine of Tk 190.41 million in a money laundering case.

OTHER PROPOSALS

According to Kamal, the panel proposed to retain the tax at source on the commissions the brokerage houses get at its previous rate.

"We proposed not to increase the tax at source on the commissions brokerage houses get and to decrease the corporate tax on banks, insurances and other financial institutions from 42 to 40 percent," he said.

The finance minister proposed to increase the tax from 0.05 to 0.1 percent.

Kamal said the committee proposed to withdraw three percent tax on share premium and make it mandatory for the organisations enjoying tax holiday to offload 25-30 percent of their paid up capital.

He also said the standing committee would hold a meeting on the report of the share scam probe committee, formed to investigate the December-January share market debacle.

Several steps were initiated following a report submitted by the panel, headed by Bangladesh Krishi Bank chief Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled. One such step was to overhaul the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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