Recovering laundered assets: UN agency on crime pledges full-fledged cooperation with ACC

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has promised to provide full-fledged cooperation to the Anti-Corruption Commission in preventing money laundering and recovering laundered assets from Bangladesh.

A five-member delegation of the UN agency made the pledge during a meeting with the ACC officials at the anti-graft agency's headquarters today (10 September), according to sources familiar with the matter.

Marco Teixeria, South Asia head of UNODC, led the delegation.

Sources said there was a detailed discussion on the cooperation of UNODC to increase the capacity of the ACC, especially in the field of prevention of money laundering and recovery of stolen assets.

The ACC also informed the UN agency of its activities during the meeting.

The UNODC works against trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption.

The ACC's meeting with the UNODC delegation comes a day after it held a meeting with the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Following the meeting, ACC Secretary Khorsheda Yasmeen told reporters that the anti-graft agency would get help from the FBI  to recover laundered money.

"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 yesterday.

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

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.