Asset recovery drive enters new phase with int’l legal action: BFIU chief

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) chief Iqtiaruddin Md. Mamun said that Bangladesh's drive to recover allegedly laundered assets has entered a new phase as authorities are increasingly turning to international legal mechanisms to freeze and recover funds and properties transferred abroad.

“The recovery process has now moved beyond domestic investigation and into international legal proceedings,” he told BSS, highlighting the growing importance of cooperation with foreign jurisdictions in bringing back assets allegedly accumulated through money laundering.

He said overseas assets cannot simply be confiscated through a domestic court order and that legal action must be pursued in the jurisdictions where the assets are located.

The BFIU is therefore using the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) mechanism and working with foreign counterparts to secure the freezing and recovery of suspicious assets, Mamun said.

He said the case involving former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury is currently at a crucial stage, with legal proceedings underway in the United Kingdom to facilitate recovery of his overseas properties.

The BFIU chief said the latest development is an application before a UK court seeking to declare Saifuzzaman Chowdhury bankrupt.

He said the move followed extensive efforts by the BFIU and other relevant agencies to identify, freeze and establish ownership of properties linked to the former minister.

According to Mamun, affected Bangladeshi banks have engaged an international law firm to pursue legal proceedings for recovery of the assets. Through the law firm, the bankruptcy application has been submitted to the UK court, he added.

The BFIU chief said a bankruptcy order would create an opportunity to seize and recover the identified properties in the UK and potentially in other jurisdictions.

He said the proceeds recovered from the properties would first be used to settle outstanding mortgages, while the remaining funds would be returned to the affected Bangladeshi banks.

Mamun said the development represents a significant outcome of the BFIU's continued efforts to move asset recovery beyond domestic investigation and into international legal proceedings.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has been targeted by a bankruptcy petition in London's High Court after the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) froze his �"185 million ($250 million) property portfolio.

Dhaka-based lender SBAC Bank Plc is seeking to place Saifuzzaman, a former ally of ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina, into bankruptcy, according to a court filing cited in the report.

The NCA froze 342 properties related to Saifuzzaman and his family last year, while Bangladeshi authorities have also been pursuing their own investigation against the former minister.

Mamun said the UK proceedings are particularly significant because overseas assets cannot simply be confiscated through a domestic court order and require cooperation and enforcement in the jurisdictions where the assets are located.    �"BSS

He said Bangladesh has therefore been pursuing international legal and mutual-assistance mechanisms to secure the assets and facilitate their eventual recovery.

Highlighting the progress made during the present government, Mamun said the Saifuzzaman case is being pursued in the broader context of the BFIU's intensified asset-tracing and recovery efforts.

The agency is working with domestic investigative bodies and foreign counterparts to identify, freeze and pursue recovery of assets allegedly accumulated through money laundering, he added.

The BFIU chief said assets worth around Tk 76,000 crore linked to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 10 business groups have been frozen through court orders in Bangladesh and abroad.

Of the total, around Tk 57,000 crore is located in Bangladesh and Tk 19,000 crore overseas, he said.

"The BFIU is investigating 11 high-profile cases, with Saifuzzaman Chowdhury among the major targets. The agency has also provided intelligence to investigative commissions concerning hundreds of other suspected offenders," he said.

Mamun said the Saifuzzaman case has also demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in recovering assets allegedly transferred abroad.

He said the BFIU has been using the MLA mechanism to seek assistance from foreign jurisdictions in freezing and recovering such assets.

In another high-profile case involving Nasa Group Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder, the agency secured a Tk 5.3 billion freeze order in Jersey and sent an MLA request to the Jersey authorities, he said.

Mamun said similar cooperation is being pursued in cases involving assets allegedly held in the UK, the United States, Singapore and other jurisdictions.

The government has also engaged international law firms to assist affected Bangladeshi banks in pursuing recovery proceedings abroad, he said.

Alongside asset recovery, Mamun said the BFIU has intensified its crackdown on the channels through which money is allegedly transferred out of the formal financial system.

The agency has been monitoring hundi, hawala, online gambling, betting platforms and cryptocurrency as part of efforts to prevent illicit fund transfers and diversion of remittances, he said.

The BFIU chief said money laundering generally takes place through two major channels - illicit capital outflow and non-repatriation of foreign earnings.

According to the agency, some illicit funds are retained abroad while foreign currencies are purchased directly from expatriate workers, with equivalent amounts paid to their families in Bangladesh through informal channels.

Mamun said the crackdown on such channels has helped strengthen monitoring of suspicious transactions and encouraged greater use of formal remittance channels.

He said the country's existing anti-money laundering policies are adequate and that the priority is now their effective implementation and enforcement.

The agency is focusing on financial intelligence, asset tracing, freezing of suspicious assets, international cooperation and legal action for recovery, he added.-