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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been actively working to recover money laundered abroad, its Director General Md Akhtar Hossain said.
The director general revealed the information at a meeting between ACC officials and four-member delegation from the European Union (EU) on Tuesday.
In response to a question, the ACC Director General mentioned that a total of 71 mutual legal assistance requests (MLARs) have been sent to recover money laundered abroad. Unfortunately, the ACC has only received responses for 27 of these requests so far.
He added that they would provide more information regarding the laundered funds later. Today, they also sought cooperation from a delegation from the European Union on this matter.
Mr Akhtar stated that they presented the obstacles faced by the ACC in their investigations and inquiries to the delegation.
The ACC urged the EU delegation to assist in retrieving the funds that have been siphoned off from Bangladesh to other countries, specifically naming the countries involved.
He expressed hope that the EU would aid in the recovery of these embezzled funds.
A team from the European Union, including Michal Krejza, Head of the EU Cooperation Department in Bangladesh, Program Manager Pablo Padin Perez, Nader Tanja, and Kishwar Amin, held the meeting with the ACC today.
The meeting included the ACC Chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Secretary Khorsheda Yasmeen, Director General Md Akhtar Hossain, and Directors Abdullah Al Zahid and Golam Shariar.
According to the ACC sources, the delegation was informed about the commission's activities, and there was a detailed discussion about enhancing the ACC's capacity, particularly in preventing money laundering and recovering embezzled assets with the EU's assistance. The EU delegation promised to provide full support to the ACC.
Previously, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have held meetings with the ACC regarding the return of embezzled funds and various related issues.
These meetings emphasized the importance of investigating corruption-related allegations, particularly focusing on money laundering, cybercrime, forensic analysis of financial transactions, strategies for questioning perpetrators, asset recovery, financial crimes conducted through technology, Mutual Legal Assistance, and information exchange.