[🇧🇩] Everything about Hasina's misrule/Laundered Money etc.

[Saif]

ACC finds Tk 352 million in FDR under CRI’s name

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has announced the discovery of a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) account valued at approximately Tk 352.1 million in the name of the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) the Awami League’s research wing. ACC Director General Md Akhtar Hossain told report

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

ACC finds Tk 352 million in FDR under CRI’s name
bdnews24.com
Published :
Feb 04, 2025 20:08
Updated :
Feb 04, 2025 20:08

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has announced the discovery of a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) account valued at approximately Tk 352.1 million in the name of the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) the Awami League’s research wing.

ACC Director General Md Akhtar Hossain told reporters on Tuesday that an FDR worth Tk 352.1 million has been found under the name of CRI at IFIC Bank.

Further transaction records were obtained from Sonali Bank.

He added that the commission’s enforcement team will conduct a detailed review of all documents and bank statements gathered during the investigation.

Awami League chief and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy chairs CRI’s board of trustees.

Her daughter Saima Wazed Putul serves as its vice-chair, while Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby is also a trustee.

According to ACC officials, they received allegations that CRI’s board of trustees had facilitated certain “political agendas,” resulting in “losses to state funds”.

Investigators then visited CRI’s Dhanmondi office, but found it closed.

In the course of their inquiry, they also collected account information from Dutch-Bangla Bank, IFIC Bank, and Sonali Bank.

ACC Assistant Director Raju Ahmed, who led the operation, explained that the investigation seeks to determine whether state funds were used for proper institutional purposes or diverted in a way that harmed public finances.

On Sept 30 last year, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, or BFIU, ordered the freezing of accounts belonging to CRI, its Young Bangla project, and the personal accounts of Joy, Putul, and Bobby.

Joy previously served as an unpaid ICT advisor to prime minister Hasina and currently resides in the United States.

Putul, an autism specialist, has been the World Health Organization’s Regional Director since Feb 1 and is based in New Delhi.

Bobby, though not officially affiliated with the Awami League government, has engaged in youth empowerment initiatives through Young Bangla.

The bank accounts of former state minister for power, energy, and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid Bipu — once a CRI trustee — were also frozen.

After the Awami League government was overthrown in popular protests, numerous legal cases were filed naming Hasina, Joy, Putul, Bobby, and Bipu as defendants.​

 

[Saif]

Hasina, Rehana, relatives own 4 bungalows in Gazipur

Hasina, Rehana, relatives own 4 bungalows in Gazipur

At least four bungalows have been traced in Gazipur that are owned by family members and relatives of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana

en.prothomalo.com

 

[Saif]

MONEY LAUNDERING: Ex-Basic Bank chair Bacchu sued again

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday filed another four cases against former Basic Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his family members, accusing them of amassing illegal wealth amounting to Tk 248 crore and laundering money to Canada...

www.newagebd.net

MONEY LAUNDERING: Ex-Basic Bank chair Bacchu sued again
Staff Correspondent 10 February, 2025, 00:10

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday filed another four cases against former Basic Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his family members, accusing them of amassing illegal wealth amounting to Tk 248 crore and laundering money to Canada.

The cases were filed with the ACC›s integrated district office in Dhaka-1, following the commission›s approval, ACC spokesperson and director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossain said.

The development came only six days after a special judge’s court in Dhaka ordered further investigation in 14 out of 59 cases filed against Bacchu and others in 2015 over embezzlement and laundering money from Basic Bank.

None of Bacchu, also a former Jatiya Party lawmaker for the Bagerhat-1 constituency, and his family members, however, is yet to be arrested though a number of special judge’s courts in Dhaka issued arrest warrants against them.

The ACC submitted charge sheets in all the 59 cases in June 2023.

Of the cases, only one is at the trial stage, and 58 are at the stage of hearing on charge framing.

In the first case filed on Sunday, Bacchu is accused of amassing illegal assets worth Tk 124.93 crore, concealing information, and laundering Tk 56.57 crore to Canada.

The charges state that Bacchu obtained the wealth by providing loans to 58 fake entities through fraudulent activities and violating banking rules.

The second case was filed on the day against Bacchu and his wife Shirin Aktar, who is alleged to have accumulated Tk 36.51 crore beyond known sources of income with the help of her husband.

In the third case, Bacchu and his son, Sheikh Sabid Hay Anik, are accused of amassing Tk 43.62 crore illegally. Anik is also accused of laundering Tk 87.62 lakh to Canada.

The fourth case on Sunday involves Bacchu›s daughter, Sheikh Rafa Hye, who is accused of amassing Tk 40.41 crore illegally with her father’s assistance. Rafa Hye is also alleged to have laundered Tk 74.81 lakh to Canada.

In 2015, the ACC had filed 59 cases on charges of embezzling Tk 2,265 crore from BASIC Bank.

It, however, refrained from accusing the bank’s the then chairman Bacchu in these cases though he was allegedly the mastermind behind the whole financial scam.

In June 2023, the ACC submitted charge sheets in these cases, accusing Bacchu in 58 out of the 59 cases filed over the loan scam.

Besides Bacchu, the bank’s 46 officials and 101 customers were also made accused in the graft cases.

The ACC also filed another case in October 2023, accusing Bacchu and five others of corruption and money laundering in the purchase of land in the capital›s Cantonment Bazar area.​

 

[Saif]

MONEY LAUNDERING: ACC seeks info from 12 countries on Tulip’s allegations

The Anti-Corruption Commission has sent letters to 12 countries, seeking information about individuals, including former United Kingdom’s city minister Tulip Siddiq, who were allegedly involved in money laundering...

www.newagebd.net

MONEY LAUNDERING: ACC seeks info from 12 countries on Tulip’s allegations
Staff Correspondent 10 February, 2025, 00:14

Tulip Siddiq.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has sent letters to 12 countries, seeking information about individuals, including former United Kingdom’s city minister Tulip Siddiq, who were allegedly involved in money laundering.

Tulip is a niece of the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and a daughter of Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana.

ACC director general (prevention) Aktar Hossain came up with the information on sending letters in response to a question at a press briefing at the commission’s Segun Bagicha headquarters in the capital Dhaka on Sunday.

He stated that an inquiry into Tulip’s alleged involvement in corruption was currently underway, and information had been sought from relevant countries.

He also mentioned that the ACC has sought information about the other individuals involved in alleged money laundering.

According to ACC officials, a total of 71 letters have been sent to 12 countries to trace and recover funds laundered abroad. The ACC has already received responses to 27 of these letters, signalling progress in the probe investigation.

Meanwhile, Tulip was listed as a resident of a luxury 10-storey tower block in the Bangladeshi capital named after her family, The Telegraph revealed.

Officials in Dhaka believe the former anti-corruption minister’s ‘permanent address’ was the upmarket apartment complex named ‘Siddiques’ in 2014, while she was a councillor in Camden, north London.

The property at Gulshan, home to embassies and major businesses, is the fifth in Bangladesh to be linked to Tulip, either through court papers or news reports.

Labour party sources say she does not own any properties in Bangladesh and does not need to answer questions on addresses that do not belong to her, the report said.

Nearly a month after she resigned as city minister, Tulip is still facing questions over her property affairs and links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.

She was forced to resign from the front bench after Sir Laurie Magnus, the UK prime minister’s ethics adviser, found that she had inadvertently misled the public over a flat gifted to her by a man linked to the Awami League party led by Sheikh Hasina.

The 10-storey apartment block in the upmarket Gulshan area of the capital Dhaka was built in the 2010s and according to a promotional video is home to a roof terrace and two and three-bedroom properties with balconies.

It is unclear if the building is named after Tulip Siddiq’s father Shafique Ahmed Siddique, her grandfather or the family in general.

In addition to the property named after family members, Tulip has been linked to another address at Gulshan and her aunt’s house at Dhanmondi in court papers.

The latter was set on fire and ransacked by angry protesters this week in response to a speech by Sheikh Hasina.

Tulip also previously owned a flat in Dhaka with another family member worth more than £1,00,000 which was sold in 2015 according to Parliament’s Register of Interests.

The ACC is also investigating claims Tulip was involved in the £4 billion embezzlement of funds from a nuclear power plant deal with Russia and claims she used her influence to help illegally allocate land for her family in the country’s capital.

The Telegraph in another report revealed that Bangladesh was investigating a luxury rural retreat with Tulip Siddiq’s name at its entrance.

The sprawling estate featuring signs for Tulip’s Territory is being examined by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission amid claims of land grabbing over the plot in the village of Kanaiya.

According to official records, the wider plot includes eight bighas (3.3 acres) owned by her father, but local accounts suggest the walled-off area is much larger.

The estate, which includes a pink duplex with a roof terrace, tin houses, palm trees and a pond with wooden boats now shows signs of vandalism and fire damage.​

 

[Saif]

Chief Adviser directs bringing bank looters to justice

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today (Sunday) directed the Bangladesh Bank governor and the authorities concerned to bring those involved in looting money from banks to justice as soon as possible. He gave the directives at a meeting on 'Bangladesh Economy: Recent Challenges and Future Way

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Chief Adviser directs bringing bank looters to justice
FE Online Desk
Published :
Feb 09, 2025 20:30
Updated :
Feb 09, 2025 20:30

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today (Sunday) directed the Bangladesh Bank governor and the authorities concerned to bring those involved in looting money from banks to justice as soon as possible.

He gave the directives at a meeting on 'Bangladesh Economy: Recent Challenges and Future Way Forward' at the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO), BSS reports.

Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam revealed the outcomes of the meeting at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.

Alam said the Chief Adviser has asked that those involved in bank robbery and those against whom there are specific allegations should be brought to justice soon.

"They should not be out of the purview of the law. They must be brought under the law at any cost," he said, quoting Prof Yunus as saying.

"Those who looted bank money have actually looted the money of the common people of Bangladesh. So, it is urgent to bring them to justice at any cost," the Chief Adviser said.

At the meeting, Prof Yunus expressed satisfaction over the country's current economic situation. However, he said, "We need to do better. We were in a very bad situation, and now we are coming to a better position from that place. But we have to take it to a better place, this is our challenge."

He also instructed the authorities concerned to find a suitable solution to the complications Beximco is facing.

Echoed Chief Adviser Prof Yunus, CA Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumdar said there has been a 23 percent growth in expatriate income as immigration is increasing.

However, the Chief Adviser said there is nothing to celebrate this right now, as there is still a huge potential in this sector, he said, adding that Prof Yunus instructed the authorities concerned to tap this potential.

In addition, Prof Yunus ordered taking necessary measures to quickly reopen visas for Bangladeshi migrants in countries where visas are currently closed.

At the meeting, Financial Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said the macroeconomic stability has returned and Bangladesh is going to a stable place.

During the meeting, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur informed the chief adviser that all assets of the S Alam Group have already been seized to recover the stolen money from the bank.

In addition, he said, several steps have been taken against Nagad.

The governor also said 12 oligarchs who looted money from banks have been identified. "We are taking the help of foreign experts to find out how they took the money. Efforts are being made to bring back the laundered money in accordance with international protocols," he added.

The central bank governor said all government agencies, including Bangladesh Bank, are working on this with utmost importance.

A delegation from the UK has visited Bangladesh to provide assistance in recovering the laundered money, and a delegation from Switzerland is also coming to Bangladesh, he said, adding, "Apart from this, we are talking to the US and Canada."

The governor said the government is trying to bring back US$ 234 billion that was laundered from Bangladesh.

Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Apurba Jahangir and Assistant Press Secretary Suchismita Tithi were also present at the press briefing.​

 

[Saif]

Corruption increased in last year of AL regime

Transparency International in its Corruption Perception Index 2024 indicated that corruption was increasing in Bangladesh as the country slipped two steps in its global Corruption Perception Index to 151, jointly with Congo and Iran.

www.newagebd.net

Corruption increased in last year of AL regime
Solamain Salman 11 February, 2025, 13:07

Bangladesh scored 13-year low on CPI

Transparency International in its Corruption Perception Index 2024 indicated that corruption was increasing in Bangladesh as the country slipped two steps in its global Corruption Perception Index to 151, jointly with Congo and Iran.

According to the report, Bangladesh has scored 23 to become the 14th most corrupt country globally and the second most corrupt state in South Asia, only ahead of Afghanistan scoring 17.

In 2023, Bangladesh ranked 149th with a score of 24.

The Berlin-based anti-graft watchdog’s Bangladesh chapter, Transparency International Bangladesh, presented the results of CPI 2024 on Tuesday at a press conference at its Dhaka office, terming the country’s performance as ‘disappointing.’

Bangladesh’s latest score is the lowest in the past 13 years, highlighting a troubling trend in governance and corruption.

The 2024 corruption index has been prepared based on the data for the period spanning from November 2021 to September 2024.

Over the past 12 years, the country’s corruption score remained consistently poor, with 2024’s score being 6 points worse than the highest score of 28 achieved in 2017.

The Transparency International index measures the level of perceived corruption on a scale of 0 to 100. Score ‘0’ is considered the most corrupt, while ‘100’ is considered the least corrupt or the most well-governed.

TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman at the press conference put the unbridled corruption down largely to the absence of effective actions against high level corruption and money laundering incidents against which there was concrete evidence.

The state institutions mandated to control corruption, including the Anti-Corruption Commission and judicial bodies, continued to operate under partisan political influence, he said.

He also said that even after the fall of the authoritarian regime, abuse of power and corrupt practices in political and governance spaces persisted, risking the freedom to dissent, media freedom and civic space.

Since 2012, Bangladesh’s score in the CPI stayed between 25 and 28 until 2022. In 2023, it decreased by one point to 24.

A trend analysis of CPI scores of 2012–2024 shows that Bangladesh’s score of 23 in 2024 is three points lower than the 13-year average score of 26.

Transparency International said that governments across the Asia-Pacific were still failing to deliver on anti-corruption pledges.

After years of stagnation, the 2024 average score for the region dropped by one point to 44 in CPI 2024, it said.

Globally, the CPI scores of 56 countries have increased this year compared with the previous year. The scores of 93 countries decreased while 31 countries’ remained unchanged.

Over two-thirds of the world’s countries scored below 50 in 2024, and 56 per cent scored below the global average of 43.

While the scores of 32 countries improved in the index from 2012 to 2024, the scores of 47 countries declined, and 101 countries remained unchanged.

The CPI report states that Denmark topped the list in 2024 as the least corrupt country with a score of 90, with Finland securing the second place with 88 score, while Singapore occupied the third place with a score of 84.

Scoring just 8, South Sudan is placed at the bottom of the list in 2024, Somalia in the second-lowest position with a score of 9, and Venezuela in the third-lowest position with a score of 10.

In the past 12 years, Bangladesh has not even come close to touching the global average in the CPI score. In fact, its scores rose only thrice, while mostly going down.

The best position Bangladesh secured for itself among 180 countries was in 2013 when it ranked 136th.

Even pitted against its neighbours, Bangladesh does not fare well, according to the TI report—Bhutan became 18th, Maldives 96th, India 96th, Nepal 107th, Sri Lanka 121st and Pakistan 135th—are all above Bangladesh. Among the countries only Bhutan has crossed the global average with a score of 72.

Only Afghanistan, ranked 165th with 17 score is behind Bangladesh in South Asia. The lowest on the list—meaning the most corrupt—is war-torn South Sudan scoring 8.

Bangladesh’s score is 6 points less than the average of other authoritarian regimes in the world. It score is also 6 points lower than the average score for countries with lowest Human Development Index, and also 6 points lower than the average for countries with closed civic space.

The keynote paper presented at the press conference, the TIB gave some recommendations, the major one of which is implementing the recommendations of the Anti-Corruption Reform Commission with a specific focus on reforming the ACC making it truly independent and accountable.

Depoliticising state institutions such as the ACC, bureaucracy, law-enforcement agencies and judiciary has also been recommended.

Contacted, ACC director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossain on Tuesday declined to comment over the CPI report, saying that they had yet to see the report.​

 

[Saif]

Court orders freezing of S Alam family’s Tk 5,109cr shares, profits

A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered to freeze shares, owned by S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family members, worth more than Tk 5,109 crore of different companies and profit against the shares...

www.newagebd.net

Court orders freezing of S Alam family’s Tk 5,109cr shares, profits
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 12 February, 2025, 17:48

Mohammed Saiful Alam.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered to freeze shares, owned by S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family members, worth more than Tk 5,109 crore of different companies and profit against the shares.

Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge Zakir Hossain Galib passed the order, allowing a plea of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The commission in its plea said that it was probing allegations of laundering $1 billion to different countries, including Singapore, British Virgin Island, and Cyprus, against Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family members.

‘During the investigation, we have received information of these 437,85,02,247 shares, owned by Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family members of 42 companies. The nominal value of these shares is Tk 5109,67,96,260. If the accused can transfer or hand over these shares, all our efforts will go in vain. So, these shares and profits against these should be frozen,’ the plea added.​

 

[Saif]

Hasina's development tales and a debt of 18 trillion taka

During her autocratic rule, Hasina, her family, relations, party leaders and activists, oligarch businessmen and embezzlers had looted of billions and billions of taka

en.prothomalo.com

Hasina's development tales and a debt of 18 trillion taka
Awami League's economic development has submerged the nation in 18 trillion taka (Tk 18 lakh crore) debt while spinning false narrative of development and creating in unbelievable record of unreined embezzlement and money laundering.

A misconception has been strongly embedded in the minds of blind Awami League supporters that during the 15 years of Sheikh Hasina's autocratic rule, the country had achieved amazing growth. But as a dispassionate development researcher, I would like to inform them that Awami League's economic development has submerged the nation in 18 trillion taka (Tk 18 lakh crore) debt while spinning false narrative of development and creating in unbelievable record of unreined embezzlement and money laundering. Sheikh Hasina sunk the nation in a sea of debt and artificially displayed a high GDP.

During her autocratic rule, Hasina, her family, relations, party leaders and activists, certain oligarch businessmen and embezzlers had institutionalised the looting of billions and billions of taka. Now, after the fall, these shocking tales are unravelling.

According to a lead report of the daily Banik Barta on 7 August 2024, the outstanding total of Bangladesh government's domestic and foreign debt on 5 August 2024 stood at over 18.35 trillion (Tk 18 lakh 35 thousand crore). Yet on 6 January 2009 when Sheikh Hasina took over power, outstanding total of Bangladesh government's domestic and foreign debt stood at around Tk 2.77 trillion (Tk 2 lakh 76 thousand 830 crore).

That means the difference between these two outstanding debts stand at over Tk 15.58 trillion (Tk 15 lakh 58 thousand 206 crore). Before she fled on 5 August, Sheikh Hasina sunk the people in this massive debt of Tk 18.35 trillion, projecting a high GDP rate every year, cheating the people in a despicable manipulation of figures.

The below-poverty level population was depicted lower than actual to inflate the government's success in poverty alleviation. Birth and death rates were also lowered to artificially project the population growth rate.

In January 2025, unknowingly the people of Bangladesh carry a debt of over Tk 100,000 per head. For at least the next one decade the country's economy will be submerged in an alarming state, having to repay this huge debt along with interest. During Sheikh Hasina's rule, on the pretext of accelerating development, one mega project after the other was taken up and implemented, with hundreds and hundreds more development projects taken up in an arbitrarily manner all over the country.

The expenditure of each mega project was magnified much more than actual so that billions of taka could be misappropriated, with project expenditure spirally higher than anywhere else in the world. The last fifteen and a half years was a carnival or corruption and embezzlement in the country.

Hasina's autocratic government has looted the country for over fifteen and a half years and most of the money was siphoned off abroad. At the centre of this looting were the oligarch businessmen, politicians and corrupt civil servants. The project expenditure of 82 ongoing projects in which Sheikh Hasina's relatives are involved in some way or the other, totals over Tk 510 billion (Tk 51 thousand crore). Hasina's family, relatives and oligarch businessmen as well as almost all Awami League ministers, members of parliament, top level leaders and activists and even local level leaders and activists had been in various ways involved in corruption, embezzlement and capital flight.

The massive loans taken in various ways which has sunk the country in long-term debt, is all the more dangerous because the lion's share of this money has been siphoned out of the country. Money laundering has been identified as the number one problem of the Hasina rule.

On 2 November 2023, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman stated that every year for the last 10 years USD 12 billion to USD 15 billion was siphoned out of the country through various means. According to the White Paper committee findings, over the past fifteen and a half years of the autocrat Hasina's rule, every year USD 16 billion on average was siphoned out of the country, leading to a total of USD 234 billion in capital flight.

Perhaps it will also be possible to reduce inflation in the next two or three months. But it is not clear whether it will be possible to raise the GDP rate to 4 per cent in the current fiscal.

The banking and financial sector saw the most embezzlement, then the energy and power sector, followed by the physical infrastructure sector and then IT. The White Paper dug out sector-wise looting and published an estimate in the embezzled funds. It analysed 28 methods of corruption. The United Arab Emirates, Canada, the US, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and a few other countries have been identified as places most conducive as tax havens.

On top of that, at the orders of the former planning minister Mustafa Kamal, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, under the planning ministry, in 2014 became the hub of data doctoring. GDP was project higher than actual every year and the total population of the country was shown to be less than it actually was in order to increase the projected per capital GDP. The country's export income was projected in inflated figures and the rate of inflation projected lower than actual.

The below-poverty level population was depicted lower than actual to inflate the government's success in poverty alleviation. Birth and death rates were also lowered to artificially project the population growth rate. The total fertility rate was also lowered so that the government could claim wide success in controlling population growth control. That is why the export revenue in 2023-24 has dropped by around USD 5 billion as compared to the export revenue projected last fiscal by the former government.

The former government claimed that the population growth rate had fallen by 1.3 per cent, but that is actually much higher. It was said that the rate of population below the poverty lines was down to 18 per cent, but it was actually much higher.

Hasina had taken the economy to the nadir and now the interim government is trying its utmost to ensure that people's quality of life is not totally destroyed. But not even a fraction of the USD 2.34 billion, which has been pilfered out of the country, can be brought back. In the meanwhile, under the leadership of the Bangladesh bank governor, several bold steps have been taken and it has been possible to restore some degree of relief in the banking sector.

Perhaps it will also be possible to reduce inflation in the next two or three months. But it is not clear whether it will be possible to raise the GDP rate to 4 per cent in the current fiscal. Before toppling from power, Hasina's government was claiming that Bangladesh total GDP had crossed USD 450 billion. In the meantime, a foreign research institute has given quite a contrary picture, that Bangladesh's total GDP at present hovers around Tk 300 billion. A researcher Nick Lea claims that Bangladesh's per capita GDP is USD 1794 actually.

*Moinul Islam is an economist and former professor at the economics department of Chittagong University.
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir​

 

[Saif]

Int’l firms to be hired to recover laundered money

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is set to appoint international litigation firms to recover loans worth Tk 200 crore and above that have been laundered abroad from 19 commercial banks.

www.thedailystar.net

Int’l firms to be hired to recover laundered money
BFIU asks 19 banks to identify suspect loans over Tk 200cr

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is set to appoint international litigation firms to recover loans worth Tk 200 crore and above that have been laundered abroad from 19 commercial banks.

A meeting between BFIU and managing directors of the banks made the decision on January 30, according to the meeting minutes.

The meeting document shows that the anti-money laundering agency will initially compile a cluster of cases involving Tk 200 crore or more each.

The litigation firms, which are law firms that handle legal disputes, will then assess the cases based on the likelihood of successful recovery.

The firms will receive a certain percentage of the recovered funds as compensation for their services. The process will not require financial involvement from the Bangladesh Bank or any other bank, according to the minutes.

The meeting, presided over by Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, included the chief executives or managing directors of Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, BASIC Bank, Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, IFIC Bank, Global Islami Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, United Commercial Bank, City Bank, National Bank, One Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Bank Asia, Union Bank, and Dhaka Bank.

The BFIU will conduct meetings with other commercial banks in due course.

On February 4, the BFIU directed those 19 banks to submit a list of cases where there is suspicion of Tk 200 crore or more being siphoned off. Banks were also advised to inform the BFIU immediately if any new cases of this nature arise.

Per the meeting minutes, since cases will be filed against individuals or groups with the assistance of litigation firms, it will be essential to coordinate information from all banks.

This means banks must provide necessary documents and evidence to strengthen legal proceedings, especially as litigation firms will only accept cases after verifying all submitted documentation.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur instructed all banks to collect and securely preserve relevant documents and evidence. He also mentioned that banks may follow their own regulations and legal procedures to recover embezzled funds within the country.

However, 10 major business groups and the family members of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be excluded from this initiative, with a separate decision taken previously regarding their cases.

On January 6, the Financial Institutions Division directed the BFIU to form investigation teams comprising members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe alleged money laundering and financial misconduct in those 11 cases.

The business groups under investigation are S Alam Group, Beximco Group, Summit Group, Bashundhara Group, Gemcon Group, Orion Group, Nabil Group, Nassa Group, Sikder Group and Aramit Group, which is owned by the family of former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury.

International organisations such as the UK-based International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the International Centre for Asset Recovery are assisting in the recovery of misappropriated funds in these 11 priority cases, as per the meeting minutes.

At a recent press conference, the Bangladesh Bank governor stated that the legal process to recover laundered funds could take three to four years, mentioning that the global standard for such recoveries typically ranges from four to five years.

"Our short-term goal is to identify and attach foreign-held assets within one year. We have also launched major initiatives for asset recovery," Mansur said.

In its white paper on the state of the Bangladesh economy, a government panel estimated that an average of $16 billion had been illicitly siphoned off from the country each year over the past 15 years.​

 

[Saif]

Seize overseas assets of Bashundhara MD, VC: court

The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court on Tuesday ordered the seizure of assets of Bashundhara Group managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir, his wife Sabrina Sobhan and brother and the group’s...

www.newagebd.net

Seize overseas assets of Bashundhara MD, VC: court
Staff Correspondent 18 February, 2025, 22:24

The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court on Tuesday ordered the seizure of assets of Bashundhara Group managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir, his wife Sabrina Sobhan and brother and the group’s vice-chairman Safwan Sobhan Tasvir in the United Arab Emirates, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

Judge Md Zakir Hossain issued the order accepting a petition submitted by Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Nazmul Hussain for the seizure of the assets, including shares, real estate, and business holdings in the three countries.

According to the petition, Sayem Sobhan holds the position of managing director in two Slovakian companies—Calcutronic Holding, with a capital of €5,000, and Gagagugu, valued at €5,000.

He also owns a two-bedroom Tk 12.4 core flat on the 11th floor of the Burj Khalifa in the UAE and he serves as a director in two UK-based companies — Worldera Corporation Ltd, where he owns one lakh shares, and ASWA Holdings Ltd, where he holds five lakh shares.

Sayem’s wife Sabrina Sobhan is a director of UK-based Euroasia Television Network Ltd with 27,000 shares.

Safwan Sobhan is also a director of Global Multi Trade Ltd, another UK company.

The commission in the petition said that available records revealed that Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and his wife Afroza Begum, sons and daughters-in-law invested in six companies in Slovakia, United Kingdom and bought flat in Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.

Ahmed Akbar Sobhan’s son and daughter-in-law transacted illegal money in the UAE to buy the flat without approval of the Bangladesh government, it said.

As Bangladeshi citizens, they are legally bound to declare all their legal incomes and properties through their income tax return, but they have not shown the amount of money invested in companies and real estate properties, said the petition.

The commission also said that it got information that they took huge amount of bank loans in the name of the companies from different banks of Bangladesh which were not repaid at the end of the term of those loans and there by misappropriated.

It is clearly indicated that Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and his wife Afroza Begum, sons, and daughters-in-law obtained those properties through bank loans and corruption.

The petition also urged the court to order the authorities of the three countries to freeze or attach those assets and bank accounts immediately.

This development follows an earlier order on November 21, 2024, when the same court froze foreign assets of Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam, eight family members, and Sayem Sobhan Anvir in six countries and two offshore jurisdictions.

On October 21, 2024, the court banned foreign travel of Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and eight of his family members on corruption allegations.​

 

[Saif]

74pc Bangladeshis victimised of graft by law enforcers during AL reign: UN

Three in every four Bangladeshis (74.4 per cent) were victims of corruption by law enforcement officials during the 15-year corrupt reign of the fallen Awami League government, according to a recent report of the United Nations (UN) rights office. "Corruption at the highest levels has been mirrore

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

74pc Bangladeshis victimised of graft by law enforcers during AL reign: UN
BSS
Published :
Feb 18, 2025 21:06
Updated :
Feb 18, 2025 21:06

Three in every four Bangladeshis (74.4 per cent) were victims of corruption by law enforcement officials during the 15-year corrupt reign of the fallen Awami League government, according to a recent report of the United Nations (UN) rights office.

"Corruption at the highest levels has been mirrored by widespread corruption and extortion at lower levels of the bureaucracy and security apparatus," the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) fact-finding report read.

The Office of the OHCHR released its Fact-Finding Report titled "Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh" last week from its Geneva office.

The OHCHR revealed that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League mounted dominance over political institutions, the justice and security sectors, and the wider bureaucracy during her 15 years in office.

"This capture radiated into the broader economy, in the form of clientelism, crony capitalism and corruption," the report said.

The fallen government prioritised large businesses and export industries, in particular the garment sector, as well as major infrastructure projects, rather than developing a wider industrial basis and fostering smaller and medium enterprises.

The UN fact-finding report unearthed how the AL government manipulated data with a doubling of the per capita gross domestic product since 2013, where the overall distribution of economic gains was increasingly uneven in reality.

Income and consumption inequality, as well as income concentration among the richest five percent in the country, increased markedly between 2010 and 2022.

Bangladesh has a very low tax base relying heavily on indirect taxes, which increases the burden on middle- and low-income people disproportionally.

"The concentration of economic power and wealth and the related negative impacts on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights have also been driven by large-scale corruption in public procurement and the capture and control of banks, energy providers and other key sectors of the economy by oligarchs close to the Awami League," the UN report said.

The report found that politically connected clients plundered money from several large banks through loan schemes, which were massive enough in scale to threaten the country's macroeconomic stability.

"A considerable part of these and other illegally acquired gains were reportedly transferred out of the country and invested in foreign jurisdiction for the benefit of corrupt Bangladeshi senior officials and Bangladesh oligarchs linked to them," it revealed.​

 

[Saif]

NBR’s intelligence unit finds Tk 2.42 trillion transactions in S Alam’s accounts

The intelligence unit of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has uncovered financial transactions amounting to Tk 2.42 trillion in the accounts of prominent businessman Md Saiful Alam, commonly known as S Alam, and his family. Ahsan Habib, director general of the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) sh

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

NBR’s intelligence unit finds Tk 2.42 trillion transactions in S Alam’s accounts
bdnews24.com
Published :
Feb 19, 2025 20:58
Updated :
Feb 19, 2025 20:58

The intelligence unit of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has uncovered financial transactions amounting to Tk 2.42 trillion in the accounts of prominent businessman Md Saiful Alam, commonly known as S Alam, and his family.

Ahsan Habib, director general of the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) shared these findings during a workshop titled Enhancing Mutual Cooperation to Prevent Tax Evasion and Money Laundering, at the Rajaswa Bhaban in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Wednesday.

He described the “vast scale” of the transactions, saying: “Seven officers working across 10 computers for a month still could not complete data entry.”

According to him, Tk 360 billion remained in bank accounts as balances over the past five years until Jun 30, generating Tk 67.81 billion in interest.

“Most of this was not declared,” Habib said, adding that investigations are ongoing.

The CIC chief also alleged that S Alam’s two sons engaged in fraudulent activities to launder Tk 5 billion, with the help of a bank.

“They used forged documents to legalise Tk 5 billion. The bank in question has still not provided us with the necessary information,” he said.

“During our investigation, we found that on Dec 21, the Patiya branch of SIBL (Social Islami Bank Limited) issued pay orders, which were cleared later. But legally, the deadline for such transactions had passed on Jun 30,” he added.

He claimed that the bank’s head office manipulated records to backdate the transactions and that further irregularities are being scrutinised.

Habib revealed that steps are being taken against those involved in these malpractices.

“Today, we froze Tk 1.21 billion belonging to a chairman of a currently operating bank.”

He also spoke of major irregularities in the banking sector, citing a case where Tk 150 million worth of diamonds was seized from a locker.

“One of the richest men in Bangladesh, his wife was trembling as she handed over the gold and diamonds. An officer asked her, ‘why are you so scared? You have no shortage of money’.”

The CIC chief pledged to reveal all financial misconduct that took place under the previous Awami League government.

“I have numerous blank cheques from different banks. I have sensitive information. Either I will be killed, or I will expose everything. I will spread the information across the country, to students, to journalists,” he said.

Md Khairul Islam, Commissioner of the Large Taxpayers Unit, supported these claims, though he refrained from naming individuals.

“From many account statements, we see massive amounts being withdrawn daily. But when we ask where the money is going, they have no answer.”

NBR Chairman M Abdur Rahman Khan issued a stern warning to bank officials, saying they are legally bound to cooperate with tax authorities.

“If you fail to assist the tax authorities, you will be considered defaulting assessees, and all legal measures will be taken against you,” he said.

He criticised banks for charging unnecessary fees and warned that strict actions would be taken against those failing to provide information.

“We need a lot of data for intelligence operations, and banks are our primary source. The system must be automated so that information can be retrieved using National ID numbers,” he said.​