The new administration in Bangladesh is investigating whether the Sheikh Hasina regime diverted at least Tk 2 trillion from the country’s banking system abroad, particularly to the UK, the US, Singapore, and the UAE.
According to the findings of a committee formed by interim leader Muhammad Yunus, an average of $16 billion may have been illicitly siphoned out of Bangladesh annually during former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.
According to a government statement, the panel led by economist Debapriya Bhattacharya submitted a white paper on the state of Bangladesh’s economy to Yunus in Dhaka on Sunday.
According to a government statement, the panel led by economist Debapriya Bhattacharya submitted a white paper on the state of Bangladesh’s economy to Yunus in Dhaka on Sunday.
“Our blood curdles to know how they plundered the economy,” Yunus said in the statement. “The sad part is they looted the economy openly. And most of us could not summon the courage to confront it.”
The document shows “the economy we inherited after the July-August mass uprising,” he said.
Leaders in Sheikh Hasina’s party are in jail, hiding in Bangladesh, or have left the country. The party doesn’t have a spokesperson who can comment on the allegations in the white paper.
As part of its investigations, the committee looked into seven large projects out of 29 which had more than 100 billion taka ($836 million) expenditure outlay each.
The initial cost of the seven projects examined was estimated at 1.14 trillion taka. Hasina’s government later revised project costs to 1.95 trillion taka through the addition of more components and inflated land prices among others, according to the statement.
“The problem is deeper than what we have thought,” Bhattacharya said, adding that the 400-page white paper will show “how crony capitalism gave birth to the oligarchs, who controlled the policy framing.”
Hasina’s ministers, public servants and military siphoned billions to the UK
A joint investigation by British newspaper The Observer and Berlin-based anti-corruption organization Transparency International has revealed that close associates of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, including former ministers and entrepreneurs, own properties worth more than £400 million (about Tk 6,000). crore). in Great Britain.
There are allegations that these assets were purchased with laundered money siphoned from Bangladesh, the Guardian reports.
The findings, published Saturday in a report by The Guardian, indicate ownership of nearly 350 properties, ranging from luxury apartments to sprawling mansions. Many of these were reportedly acquired through offshore companies and shell entities linked to Sheikh Hasina’s closest allies.
Those involved include Salman F. Rahman, former private sector adviser to Sheikh Hasina and vice chairman of the Beximco Group; Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Chairman of Bashundhara Group; Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, former Land Minister; and Nazrul Islam Mazumder, chairman of Nassa Group.
Salman F Rahman
Rahman, who is currently jailed in Bangladesh on money laundering charges, and his family are believed to own several valuable properties in London’s prestigious Mayfair district. This includes seven luxury apartments at Grosvenor Square, acquired mainly through offshore entities. In March 2022, Rahman’s son, Ahmed Shayan Rahman, reportedly bought an apartment for £26.75 million and owns another apartment worth £35.5 million.
Legal representatives of the family have denied wrongdoing and claim all takeovers complied with money laundering laws.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury
Former Lands Minister Saifuzzaman and his family reportedly own more than 300 properties in Britain, worth around £160 million. An earlier Al Jazeera report from September estimated the global value of his assets at $500 million. Bangladesh’s Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has frozen Chowdhury’s bank accounts and a court has seized his real estate in the country. He is also under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and has been banned from leaving Bangladesh.
Ahmed Akbar Sobhan
Bashundhara Group chairman Sobhan and his family reportedly own two properties worth £13 million in Surrey, bought through offshore companies. During the investigation, a mansion linked to Sobhan’s son was identified in the area. The family strongly denies the allegations. Bashundhara’s deputy chairman, Safwan Sobhan, claims the allegations are baseless.
Nazrul Islam Mazumder
Nazrul, chairman of Nassa Group, is also under investigation for money laundering. He and his family are said to own five properties worth £38 million in the London borough of Kensington.
Government actions and legal responses
The government of Bangladesh has taken strict action against those involved. Authorities have frozen bank accounts, seized property and issued travel bans against several individuals, including Sobhan and his family.
In response to the allegations, legal representatives of the accused parties have consistently denied any misuse of funds or unlawful acquisitions. They claim the purchases comply with UK and Bangladesh property and finance laws.
The findings of this investigation have intensified scrutiny of the financial transactions of Bangladesh’s political and business elites, raising broader questions about corruption and accountability in the country.
Property investment spree in the UK
Prominent Bangladeshi figures, including politicians and business leaders accused of corruption, own UK properties worth approximately £400 million.
An investigation, conducted by The Observer in collaboration with Transparency International, has revealed the information in a report published in the British daily Guardian.
The properties were acquired through offshore companies and family members, with ownership concealed using complex corporate structures, according to the report.
One of the figures is Salman F Rahman, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s private industry and investment adviser, who now faces allegations of money laundering.
Members of the Rahman family own – or hold stakes in – seven luxury apartments there, mostly through companies based in offshore jurisdictions, the report said.
One, bought for £26.75m in March 2022, is owned – via a British Virgin Islands company – by Ahmed Shayan Rahman. He also owns another flat in the square that cost £35.5m, according to the findings.
Offshore companies controlled by his cousin, Ahmed Sharyar, own a further four properties worth a combined £23m, in the same square and nearby.
Former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and his family have been linked to over 300 UK properties worth at least £160 million.
Family members of Ahmed Akber Sobhan, linked to the Bashundhara Group, own two vast properties here, acquired for a combined £13m and owned via companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, Golden Oak Venture Limited and Kaliakra Holdings Limited.
A third, a French-style mansion, owned by one of Sobhan’s sons, appeared to be under construction, the Observer investigation found.
One £10m mansion, on a gated estate in London’s Kensington, is owned by Shah Alam’s son and the vice chairman of Bashundhara Group, Safwan Sobhan, through a company called Austino Limited.
A similar arrangement relates to a £5.6m Chelsea waterfront property owned by Safwan’s brother, at a cost of £28m. The apartment was purchased by Red Pine Trading, which is based in the British Virgin Islands but gives its address as a tower in Singapore.
Nazrul Mazumder, the founder and chairman of another Bangladeshi conglomerate, Nassa Group, has also come under scrutiny.
His family owns Kensington properties worth £38 million, while he faces money laundering charges in Bangladesh.
Many of these properties are rented out, providing a steady income stream.
As of 2023, the UK publishes data on overseas entities that hold land titles. But ownership can be easily hidden by simply wrapping the property-owning company inside another offshore vehicle, like an anonymous trust.
This loophole is just one concern shared by those who question the adequacy of the UK’s transparency regime.
Bangladesh seeks assistance from the UK and USA.
The Bangladesh government has requested the assistance of the United Kingdom and the U.S. in investigating the overseas assets of key figures in former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
The interim government will sit with international organisations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, from Dec 10 to discuss efforts to recover funds laundered during the Awami League government’s tenure.
The Financial Times reports that the new interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, is cracking down on alleged corruption under Hasina’s leadership, following her ousting in a mass student uprising last month.
The investigation forms part of a broader crackdown on corruption as Bangladesh attempts to recover substantial amounts of wealth allegedly siphoned from the country’s banking system during Hasina’s two-decade rule.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur told the Financial Times that his administration is probing the diversion of approximately Tk2,05,218 crore (around £13 billion) in assets overseas.
Mansur revealed that the government suspects these funds have been laundered to several countries, with a particular focus on the UK, where they believe a £150 million property portfolio tied to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the former land minister, may be located.
This move comes after years of accusations against Hasina’s government involving corruption, vote-rigging, and rights abuses.
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