Dhaka: Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur announced today that the United Kingdom (UK) is providing full support to Bangladesh in recovering laundered money connected to individuals associated with the regime of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “The government is in intensive discussion with UK to recover laundered money. Our communication with the UK is deep at the technical level. They are also supporting us in the preparation of documents,” he stated during a media briefing at his office, following his visit to London from June 10 to June 13 as part of the Chief Adviser’s delegation.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Mansur mentioned that Bangladesh had sought mutual legal assistance from multiple countries, including the UK. He explained that Bangladesh had provided information regarding the properties of launderers and looted money, which foreign authorities are acting upon. “It (sending requests) is a continuous process. New requests are sent to them,” he said, when asked about the potential for the UK to freeze additional properties linked to tycoons from the former regime.
Recently, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) ordered the freezing of £170 million worth of properties belonging to former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed in the UK. This followed a £90 million asset freeze last month targeting Shayan Rahman and Shariar Rahman of Beximco Group. Mansur also revealed ongoing discussions with other countries and expressed optimism that a significant amount of money could be recovered.
He further shared that international litigation firms are interested in investing between $50 million and $100 million to fund asset recovery efforts. A litigation funder is a third party that provides financial backing to a litigant for legal costs in exchange for a portion of any financial recovery from the case.
The BB governor indicated that Bangladesh might consider establishing a fund as part of the initiative and raising money from global litigation firms. “They (litigation firms) will get 15 percent to 20 percent of the recovered money. But the final amount will be decided based on the amount of recovery,” he added.