The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has traced assets worth nearly Tk 400 billion (40,000 crore), laundered from Bangladesh and invested in different countries.
CIC Director General Ahsan Habib informed this to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus after investigations carried out in seven cities across five countries from January.
The disclosure came on Sunday at the State Guest House Jamuna, where NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan and CIC Director General Ahsan Habib briefed the Chief Adviser.
The information was later confirmed in a press release issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
According to the release, investigators have also found evidence of 352 passports obtained by Bangladeshis in exchange for money in nine countries. Those are: Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, North Macedonia, Malta, Saint Lucia and Turkey.
DG Ahsan Habib said CIC intelligence teams had first gathered information from different sources in Bangladesh, then travelled abroad for on-the-ground verification.
“So far, we have identified 346 properties established under individual and institutional names with laundered money. This is only a partial picture of our findings. We are working to have these assets confiscated in favour of Bangladesh and to ensure punishment for those involved. More than six international organisations are cooperating with Bangladesh in this process,” he noted.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” he added, explaining that CIC still holds a wealth of data requiring time to investigate.
He also alleged that during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, those involved in money laundering placed their own people inside Bangladesh Bank’s database management system to erase records. CIC has since developed the expertise to recover such deleted information.
After being briefed, Chief Adviser Yunus stressed the need for coordinated action by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), CIC, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police and other relevant bodies to bring offenders to justice.
“We must set an example so that no one dares to plunder the nation’s wealth and build properties abroad in future,” he said.
He directed CIC to continue its investigations, dig deeper and expand inquiries to other possible countries, assuring full government support in efforts to repatriate stolen assets.
Describing the looting of the country’s economy as a grave act of treason, the Chief Adviser said, “If we are to build a better future for the next generation, these looters must be brought under the law. The nation must be shown how its wealth was plundered. All institutions must work in unison to ensure this.”