BB governor to visit UK for asset recovery

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Ahsan H Mansur will visit the United Kingdom (UK) as a part of efforts to recover laundered assets.

The information was disclosed by Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser (CA) Shafiqul Alam in a press briefing following a high-level meeting yesterday.

The meeting, titled "Recovery of Laundered Assets: Steps Taken and Challenges" was chaired by CA Muhammad Yunus and included an 11-member task force.

Allegations of rampant corruption, nepotism, and staggering capital flight have started to surface since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled following last year's July-August student uprising. The interim government took the initiative to investigate into the alleged money laundering and bring back the siphoned-off money from abroad.

On March 17, the central bank governor is scheduled to speak to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on corruption, emphasising the need for the UK's support in Bangladesh's asset recovery efforts, including sanctions on those assets.

"We are requesting them to freeze the assets that have been transferred there and are currently being traced," said Alam.

On March 19, a half-day conference on asset recovery will take place, involving international law firms, investigation agencies, and litigation funders.

Meetings will also be held with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, National Crime Agency, and both the current and immediate past UK secretaries of state for justice.

The press secretary also informed that work is underway with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre and the World Bank's Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative to prepare for Bangladesh Asset Recovery Conference in London in early May.

The event will be attended by representatives from 8 to 10 money laundering destination countries, members of the Bangladesh task force, and other key stakeholders.

The press briefing highlighted that Bangladesh's asset recovery effort is among the largest and most complex in history.

Comparisons were drawn with Angola ($15 billion), Malaysia's 1MDB ($11 billion), and Nigeria ($5 billion).

It was further revealed that at least $75 billion to $100 billion in stolen assets from financial sector fraud, government contracts, and general corruption has primarily been transferred to the UK, US, Canada, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and various offshore tax havens.