ACC to take help from FBI in recovering laundered money: Secretary Khorsheda

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will take help from the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in recovering laundered money, ACC Secretary Khorsheda Yasmeen said today (9 September).

"The ACC will cooperate with the FBI on money laundering issues if necessary. The commission has a money laundering wing. It will seek cooperation from everywhere required to bring the money back to the country," she said after a meeting of the FBI and ACC officials.

She also said the FBI officials have promised to cooperate with the ACC's needs.

The ACC is taking various steps to recover money laundered from Bangladesh during the Awami League-led regime, she added.

A two-member delegation from the US' principal federal law enforcement agency held meetings with ACC officials at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency.

They discussed money laundering issues during the meetings, an official familiar with the matter told The Business Standard in the afternoon on condition of anonymity.

However, details on the discussion could not be known immediately.

"A two-member team of the FBI visited the ACC office today as part of a courtesy call," ACC Secretary Khorsheda said.

"They wanted to know about the activities of our different wings. They've been informed on those matters," said the secretary.

The FBI team, during their visit, held meetings with the money laundering and legal wings of the ACC, including the wing's director general and other senior officials, sources said.

Regarding stopping money laundering, Khorsheda said apart from the ACC, there are other institutions to prevent money laundering.

"Everyone is working on it. If they work successfully, hopefully money laundering will come to an end. We have our own procedures for recovering laundered money," the secretary said.

In the wake of the ouster of the Awami League-led government, reports of over a trillion taka laundered by former government officials, lawmakers, and politicians have come to the fore.

In the wake of the ouster of the Awami League-led government, reports of over T1 lakh crore laundered by former government officials, lawmakers, and politicians have come to the fore.

In a press statement issued in late August, the Chief Adviser's Office said the amount of money "Audit works will begin to determine the money swindled by the corrupt people…(but) it can be assumed that the amount could be over Tk1 lakh crore."

"The corrupted people mainly laundered money to Dubai, Singapore and the USA. We have already communicated with the USA to bring back their foreign assets. A family of smugglers owns 500 to 600 homes in the UK. We will try to acquire their local assets and then we will bring back their foreign assets," Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur said last week.

Among the big fish involved in allegedly laundering the money are Salman F Rahman, S Alam Group, former social welfare minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed, former state minister for civil aviation and tourism Md Mahbub Ali, former member of parliament (MP) Akhtaruzzaman Babu, and others.

The ACC and the Central Investigation Department (CID) have launched investigations into such allegations.

The CID is probing Salman, vice chairman of Beximco Group and an adviser to deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, for allegedly laundering Tk33,470 crore abroad, reportedly acquired through loans from seven banks over the past 15 years.

The agency is also probing S Alam Group's Chairman Saiful Alam Masud and his family on allegations of laundering a massive Tk1.13 lakh crore abroad through deceptive tactics and informal money transfer channel — hundi.

In a recent discussion at The Business Standard office, bankers said there are examples of the recovery of laundered or stolen money by various countries.

For example, Malaysia recovered $1.4 billion related to the 1MDB scandal, with assistance from the USA's Department of Justice. 

Also, Switzerland returned to Nigeria around $321 million in assets seized from the family of former military ruler Sani Abacha via a deal signed with the World Bank, according to a Reuters report in 2017. There are many more examples of recovery and laundered money, bankers said.