5,500 ATMs found undocumented

There are around 7,500 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Bangladesh, but only 2,000 of them are recorded in government documents, according to Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate.

The directorate hinted that unscrupulous businesses might have imported the undocumented machines in the name of computer accessories to evade tax.

A 31 percent tax is imposed on ATM imports while there is no tax on the import of computers.

“There are over 7,000 ATMs in Bangladesh, but our records show that the figure is much lower,” Moinul Khan, director general of the directorate, told The Daily Star on Thursday.

He said they were trying to find out from where and how the “undocumented” ATMs were imported.

Officials of the custom intelligence unit said many of the machines were brought in as “samples” for avoiding paying taxes.

“We will also look into whether sub-standard machines were imported. The issue of money laundering will also be examined,” said the DG.

Recently, the directorate has issued a letter to the managing directors of 53 banks operating ATMs, asking them to provide it with data on ATM purchases and imports in 10 days.

According to the directorate, some banks have already submitted the information to it while others have asked for more time.

The directorate's move came following some ATM frauds that took place between February 6 and 12. The incident, in which at least Tk 25 lakh were stolen, caused quite a stir among people as it was first of its kind in the country.

Investigators found that a gang of foreigners and locals used stolen data "skimmed" from four ATMs around the capital in the crime. A central bank investigation detected that the criminals stole data of over 1,200 cards, but were able to withdraw cash by using around 40 cards only.

Insiders, however, said data of 4000-5,000 cards were stolen.

Later, police arrested Piotr Szczepan Mazurek, a German born in Ukraine, along with three of his accomplices who were the employees of City Bank.

Though 53 banks have ATM services, Dutch-Bangla Bank alone has 3,700 such machines, exactly half of the total ATMs in the country. Q-Cash that runs a payments switch has around 3,000 machines across the country.

Most of the Q-Cash's ATMs are of Germany's Wincor Nixdorf. Each of the machines costs Tk 4.5 lakh to Tk 40 lakh, depending on the quality, said Kazi Saifuddin Munir, managing director of IT Consultants Limited (ITCL), which is the mother company of Q-Cash.

Munir said ITCL is the sole distributor of Wincor Nixdorf in Bangladesh. Other banks, including the market leader Dutch-Bangla, uses NCR brand of ATM that costs Tk 6 lakh to Tk 10 lakh each.