Bangladesh ‘doubles down’ on push to claw back missing $230bn

{"text":[[{"start":12,"text":"Bangladesh has “doubled down” on efforts to claw back more than $230bn it estimates was diverted out of the country under former ruler Sheikh Hasina, top officials have said, as they seek to shore up an economy hit hard by the global energy shock."}],[{"start":26.95,"text":"Sheikh Hasina ruled Bangladesh for 15 years before she was overthrown by a student-led revolt in August 2024. A caretaker administration led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus launched a campaign to recover assets that officials say were siphoned out of the country by business and political elites linked to her regime."}],[{"start":48.4,"text":"That recovery effort has gained greater urgency for the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who won a landslide election in February, because of the Iran energy crisis."}],[{"start":58.25,"text":"Bangladesh imports about 95 per cent of its oil and fuel, and finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said in an interview the country’s treasury had “bled” nearly $4bn over the past three months because of higher prices."}],[{"start":73.3,"text":"Bangladesh has already requested at least $3bn from international lenders including the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank as economic stress has pushed the country’s fiscal deficit to a projected 3.6 per cent in the current financial year."}],[{"start":90.1,"text":"Mahmud Chowdhury said Rahman’s government had “doubled down” on recouping plundered assets, including through negotiations with other governments. “Whatever we may be able to recover at a time like this, when we are really having serious fiscal issues, any amount of money helps,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":107.35,"text":"Rahman told parliament in late April that recovery efforts were being strengthened “through information exchange, asset identification and enhanced mutual legal assistance with the concerned countries”."}],[{"start":118.8,"text":"“The government is placing the highest priority on recovering laundered assets abroad,” the prime minister added."}],[{"start":124.55,"text":"Bangladesh is targeting assets in the UK, US, United Arab Emirates and Singapore, among other countries, officials said. The British High Commissioner in Dhaka confirmed that £250mn in UK-held assets linked to Bangladeshi individuals have been frozen for a year."}],[{"start":142.7,"text":"The new central bank governor, Md Mostaqur Rahman, is leading a multi-agency task force to target the missing funds."}],[{"start":150.6,"text":"He said in a separate interview that he had pushed several of the almost 40 Bangladeshi banks that authorities claim were used to siphon money out of the country to sign agreements with international litigation and asset recovery firms, including Kroll and BakerMcKenzie."}],[{"start":164.9,"text":"Kroll and BakerMcKenzie did not respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":169.4,"text":"Mahmud Chowdhury, the finance minister, said banks’ balance sheets were “nil or in the minus” territory and the government had been forced to recapitalise them. "}],[{"start":178.55,"text":"“They took $234bn out of the country,” he said, referring to businesspeople and politicians linked to Sheikh Hasina. “Laundered out, so the banks are in distress.” This month, he earmarked $3.2bn for an emergency lifeline to help revive the banking sector."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":195.45000000000002,"text":"Among the figures the task force is targeting, Bangladeshi officials said, is Mohammed Saiful Alam, the Singapore-based chair of S Alam Group, who is accused of profiting from irregular bank loans."}],[{"start":207.15,"text":"Alam last year submitted an international arbitration claim arguing that he was the victim of a “targeted campaign of arbitrary asset freezing” by the interim Yunus government."}],[{"start":217.85,"text":"In a statement this week, the S Alam family said it “categorically rejects the allegations that have been made against them and maintains that they have not been involved in any wrongdoing”."}],[{"start":228.2,"text":"Experts said past efforts to recover money from ousted regimes — such as in the Philippines after the toppling of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos — had often produced only modest gains."}],[{"start":238.79999999999998,"text":"Sheikh Hasina, meanwhile, remains in exile in neighbouring India. A court in Bangladesh last year sentenced her to death in absentia for crimes against humanity."}],[{"start":249.2,"text":"The asset recovery crusade would be “very challenging” for Bangladesh, said Mushtaq Khan, a professor of economics at Soas University of London and former member of Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Reform Commission. “Asset recovery will take too long, we won’t get anything now.”"}],[{"start":265.25,"text":"Rahman, the central bank governor, said the government had identified “some low-hanging fruit”, though no funds had yet been recovered. He added that Bangladesh could agree to financial settlements with some of those accused of funnelling money out of the country “in a formal or informal way, if necessary”."}],[{"start":282.55,"text":"“The global experience is not promising. What is recovered is usually less than 2 per cent,” he said. But even if it takes a decade, he added, “we’ll still chase them”."}],[{"start":298.75,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782089597_1268.mp3"}