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A high-profile meeting is scheduled to be held on May 19 to review the progress made so far in bringing the siphoned off money back home and deciding the next course of action in this regard, according to the officials at the finance ministry.
Headed by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, the monthly meeting is set to be held at the State Guest House Jamuna.
The Finance Adviser, Law Adviser, ACC Chairman, Principal Secretary, Attorney General, Bangladesh Bank Governor, Senior Home Secretary, Secretaries of Finance Division, Financial Institutions Division, and Foreign Affairs, NBR Chairman, Head of BFIU, and senior officials concerned are likely to attend the meeting.
According to a source, the interim government has expedited its move particularly to recover the money and assets stashed abroad allegedly during the Sheikh Hasina-led government regime.
The authorities concerned have taken multiple initiatives, including holding high-stake meetings, as and when necessary, it mentioned.
Between 2009 and 2023, a huge amount of money and assets were allegedly siphoned off from the country - recovery of the money and assets is one of the priorities of the interim government, according to it.
An 11-member inter-agency taskforce was formed on September 29 last year, with the Governor of Bangladesh Bank as its chairman, to ensure good governance in the financial sector, bring back money and assets laundered abroad, and prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in the future.
In the light of the recommendations of the taskforce, 11 joint investigation teams (JITs) have been formed to take further action after identifying the most important 11 priority cases.
An FID official said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is acting as the lead agency of the JITs and investigating officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Central Intelligence Cell (CIC), and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) are being nominated jointly.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is coordinating the search and investigation activities.
Two meetings were held in March and April last on the recovery progress with the Chief Adviser in the chair.
The meetings stressed on ensuring accurate data collection related to stolen money and assets which is the most important primary step to recover those.
These also laid special emphasis on conducting investigation activities with utmost diligence and recommended taking appropriate measures to strengthen coordination.
Besides, a meeting of the taskforce was also held on March 13, 2025.
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