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Masud Biswas, former head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) who is now under arrest, maintained a friendly connection with influential business conglomerates and set up a ring of money laundering during his tenure as the head of the money laundering prevention agency.
He helped Saiful Islam Masud of S Alam Group to get a big amount of loan from Islami Bank Bangladesh and launder that money abroad.
In addition, he also helped at least 10 other groups including Thermax groups, Zinat Group, Tanaka Group, SA Group to launder money by taking illegal benefits from these businesses.
Masud was appointed as the Head of BFIU on November 30, 2021. Before assuming office as the Head of BFIU, he was the Deputy Head of BFIU.
The government of that time gave extension to the tenure of Masud as head of BFIU several times.
Masud began his career in the Bangladesh Bank as an Assistant Director in 1988.
The Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman told UNB that TIB warned the government regarding the failure of BFIU to stop money laundering several times.
Despite substantial evidence of undeclared assets belonging to former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed and his wife, Rukhmila Zaman Chowdhury, BFIU failed to take action for an extended period, he said.