Bangladesh’s “Missing Billions”: FT documentary exposes corruption and capital flight in Hasina era

A new documentary by the Financial Times (FT) has shed light on what it calls Bangladesh’s “missing billions,” alleging that an estimated $234 billion was siphoned out of the country during Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year rule.

Titled Stolen in Plain Sight, the investigation highlights systemic corruption, illicit financial flows, and capital flight that allegedly drained the economy while enriching a politically connected elite.

According to the film, billions were lost through inflated project costs, bribery, bank loan scams, and trade misinvoicing.

The scale of illicit outflows is staggering, averaging nearly $16 billion a year. Much of this money was moved abroad through informal channels such as hundi or disguised as overpriced imports.

The documentary names several figures accused of amassing vast overseas wealth. Among them is former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, who allegedly owns more than 400 foreign properties worth nearly $300 million across the UK, US, and Dubai. Such holdings, the film argues, symbolise how public money was converted into private fortunes abroad while ordinary Bangladeshis struggled with rising inequality and limited public services.

Experts interviewed in the documentary—including economists and financial analysts—warned that the country now faces an uphill battle to recover stolen assets. “Time is not on Bangladesh’s side,” one researcher noted, stressing that the longer illicit wealth remains hidden overseas, the harder it becomes to trace and repatriate. Following the money trail across multiple jurisdictions requires international cooperation, forensic audits, and strong legal institutions—resources Bangladesh has historically lacked.

The revelations have sparked widespread public anger, particularly in the wake of Hasina’s fall from power in August 2024. Student leaders and civil society representatives, who had long accused the regime of state-backed looting, said the FT investigation validated their claims. Economists further warned that the massive capital flight weakened the banking system, drained the economy of investment, and eroded trust in governance.

While some of those implicated have denied wrongdoing, the documentary has intensified calls for accountability. Bangladesh’s interim government has already begun hiring international firms to trace billions lost through loan defaults and offshore transfers. Officials say that recovering even a fraction of the missing money could provide a much-needed boost to the struggling economy.

The FT film concludes with a stark warning: unless corruption is rooted out and accountability ensured, Bangladesh risks repeating the same cycle of capital flight and economic vulnerability. For a nation of 170 million aspiring to middle-income prosperity, the cost of its “missing billions” remains a heavy burden on its future.

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