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An incident of laundering over Tk 4.0 billion in the name of tuition fee for a single semester has been unearthed in what the team engaged in tracing laundered money sees as the tip of the iceberg.
The finding was disclosed in a high-level meeting on recovery of siphoned-off assets held at the state guesthouse Jamuna in Dhaka, officials said Monday.
Chaired by Chief Adviser of the interim government Dr Muhammad Yunus, the meeting was also told that assets of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members were traced in six countries, including the UK, the USA, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Kayman Islands.
The meeting decided to enact a new law within this week to expedite the process of asset recovery, said Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to the Chief Adviser.
Present at the meeting among others were Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Chief Adviser's Special Envoy Lutfey Siddiqi, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Dr Mohammad Abdul Momen, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) chief, the home secretary and the finance secretary.
Briefing the press about what transpired at the meeting, he said since the assumption of power, this interim government has given top priority to recovery of the money laundered abroad during the previous regime.
The government has been untiringly working to trace and recover the laundered assets and the meeting was held to review the progress, he told journalists about the issue that has become a sore point being raised by critics and stakeholders of the July-August mass uprising that unseated Sheikh Hasina as premier.
"Dr Yunus has directed the concerned departments and the agencies to leave no stone unturned for recovery of the laundered money," he said.
The meeting reviewed 11 cases against individuals and groups, including Sheikh Hasina and her family members.
According to documents, Tk 6.34b deposited in 124 accounts by Hasina and her family members was frozen by the investigation team.
The economic taskforce led by Dr Debapriya Bhattcharya in its white paper revealed that during the previous regime, US$234 billion was laundered from Bangladesh of which an amount of over 16 billion dollars was laundered through banking channel.
When asked, Mr Alam declined to reveal the identity of the person who laundered the king's ransom of over Tk 4.0b.
"We just disclosed this incident to show the unique tactics used to launder money during the previous regime," he said, adding that the name could not be disclosed for the sake of investigation.
Alam said the existence of Russian slush fund was also found in a bank of Malaysia.
He said over Tk 6.36 b deposited in 124 bank accounts was attached or frozen, while 60-katha plot of Rajuk and eight flats with 10-decimal land worth Tk 88.5 million were attached.
The press secretary said six cases were filed against Hasina and her family members on charges of "plundering and forgery". Probes were completed and charge-sheets submitted in six cases, and travel ban was imposed on seven family members of Hasina.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit sent two intelligence reports to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and froze Tk 51.5m deposited in 11 bank accounts.
The government decided to hold an international conference on asset recovery in May with all the stakeholders, he said, adding that the government is in touch with over 200 international legal firms who are expert in asset recovery.
Next week, the central bank governor will visit the UK to talk to all-party parliamentary body over there on anti-corruption matters to request them to freeze assets laundered from Bangladesh, he added.
Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretaries Abul Kalam Azad and Apurba Jahangir and Assistant Press Secretary Suchismita Tithi were present at the briefing.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com