The Anti-money Laundering Department of the Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked the company to provide information about its businesses, tax and revenue payments.

Amadeus operates though a liaison office in Dhaka. But it is allegedly violating the liaison office regulations by marketing its products and doing transactions locally.

On August 2, the industries ministry asked Amadeus to submit its income tax certificate and a statement of the funds it remitted from Bangladesh during the last three years.

The ministry acted following an investigation by the National Security Intelligence (NSI), which alleged that Amadeus has been siphoning off money to India earned through providing services to airlines.

Amadeus, a Madrid-based company, operates as a liaison office for an Indian firm --National Marketing Company (NMC).

Every time an airline or travel agent books a ticket, using the Amadeus reservation system, the company earns a certain amount of money -- $ 3 to $ 4 depending on the routes.

Currently, three more companies -- Galilio, Abacas and World Span -- are providing similar reservation services in Bangladesh. But none of them are operating as liaison offices and all of them are paying taxes.

According to a rough estimate by industry sources, the four service providers handled $25 lakh worth of business during the first six months of the current calendar year. Of this amount, Amadeus alone earned around $ 12,60,000.

Talking to The Daily Star, a senior official of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said liaison office was allowed mainly to boost garment export through buying houses.

He said the buying houses work to supply goods from Bangladesh and are allowed to operate tax-free under the condition that they would operate their bank accounts only to convert foreign exchanges. The liaison offices are restricted from conducting any local transactions or marketing products.

Amadeus was also allowed to open a liaison office under the same conditions.

"This company (Amadeus) appears to be giving IT solutions to local clients to generate business from Bangladesh. So it is violating the rules," the official said seeking anonymity.

Amadeus liaison office Country Manager Mustafa Kemal admitted that the company is helping the parent company generate business from Bangladesh but said he is not aware of the volume of business.

Karun Budhraja, senior manager, marketing & corporate communications, Indian subcontinent of Amadeus, in an e-mail reply said the company controls more than 50 per cent of the Bangladesh market but declined to give details.

The NMC, for which Amadeus works, said the company did not evade tax.

With the authorities probing Amadeus operation, the company is now planning to turn into a fully-fledged company in Dhaka from its liaison status. Sources said its new name will be Global Technology Distribution (GTD).