Assets worth nearly Tk 770b seized, frozen at home, abroad

Courts have ordered the seizure, attachment or freezing of assets worth around Tk 769.84 billion held at home and abroad as part of efforts to recover assets siphoned out of the country. These assets include land, houses, flats, bank accounts, company shares, beneficiary owners (BOs), investment funds in various countries and others.

The first meeting of the 13th parliament’s Standing Committee on Estimates was held at the Parliament complex today, Thursday. In the absence of the committee chairman, committee member Ekramul Bari Tipu chaired the meeting.

A report titled ‘Summary of Bangladesh’s Initiatives to Recover Stolen Assets’ was presented before the committee by Bangladesh Bank. The committee was briefed on the recovery of Bangladesh’s stolen assets and subsequent plans.

Updated information up to August was presented to the committee. It said civil proceedings had been initiated to recover the financial losses suffered by banks due to the illegal transfer of loan proceeds and their subsequent siphoning abroad.

Initially, six individuals and business groups have been selected. They are former land minister of the Awami League government Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, S Alam Group, Beximco Group, Sikder Group, Nassa Group and Orion Group. Four factors were considered in selecting them: a high volume of defaulted loans; intelligence information and evidence of money transfers to various countries; information on obtaining loans from banks through concealed or opaque methods; and the fact that these six groups account for $12 billion in loans among the 11 priority business groups under investigation.

The committee was also informed today that civil proceedings would be initiated in the second phase against another 40 borrowers based on the amount of their loans and information on assets held abroad. Their loans amount to $2 billion.

Committee members and MPs Md Selim Reza, Md Abdul Aziz, Md Mujibur Rahman Choudhury, Mohammed Zakir Hossain, Musammat Sammi Akter, Md Rafiqul Islam Khan and Md Masud Parves attended the meeting. Officials from Bangladesh Bank and the Parliament Secretariat concerned were also present.

A press release issued by the Parliament Secretariat said the committee recommended taking necessary steps to impose travel bans to prevent the individuals from fleeing abroad or transferring their assets, send requests for Interpol red notices in priority cases, expedite the repatriation of siphoned-off money and continue efforts to ensure exemplary punishment for them.

According to information presented before the committee, assets worth Tk 573.26 billion in Bangladesh are covered by court orders out of the total assets. Of this, immovable assets are worth Tk 100.77 billion, while movable assets are worth Tk 472.50 billion.

Assets held abroad are worth Tk 196.58 billion. Of this, immovable assets are worth Tk 151.24 billion and movable assets Tk 45.34 billion.

The document presented by Bangladesh Bank said that after the July 2024 mass uprising, priority was given to recovering assets siphoned abroad as part of a broader strategy to combat corruption, money laundering and financial crimes.

To institutionalise the initiative, an inter-agency task force was formed under the leadership of the Bangladesh Bank governor to recover and manage siphoned-off assets. It is called the Asset Recovery Task Force, or ARTF. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, or BFIU, is providing secretarial support to the task force.

The task force includes representatives from the Anti-Corruption Commission, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, Office of the Attorney General, and the ministries of home affairs, foreign affairs, law and finance.

The report prepared by Bangladesh Bank said 142 cases had been filed as of August 2026. Charge sheets had been submitted in 16 of these cases. Verdicts had been delivered in six cases in local courts. The document said a case involving the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was among those in which verdicts had been delivered.

Besides, travel bans have been imposed on 158 people to prevent them from fleeing abroad or transferring their assets.

Ten requests for Interpol red notices have been sent against high-level individuals linked to the 11 priority cases. A total of 30 mutual legal assistance requests, or MLARs, have been sent to 16 jurisdictions to identify and recover assets held abroad. These requests and agreements relate to identifying, investigating, controlling and recovering assets held abroad. Two mutual legal assistance treaties, or MLATs, have been concluded with Malaysia and Hong Kong, China.

As part of international cooperation, Bangladesh is working with the World Bank-UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, or StAR Initiative, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Department of Justice.

The committee was informed that a consortium-based approach had been adopted for civil proceedings. The aim is for affected banks to jointly pursue asset recovery rather than working separately.

One or more lead banks have been designated for each borrower group. The lead banks will coordinate with international asset recovery firms, law firms and relevant experts. They will conduct asset recovery efforts on behalf of all affected banks.

Eight banks among the most affected banks have been selected as lead banks for six consortia.

So far, 10 international firms have expressed interest in the initiative and started working with the affected banks. As an initial step in recovering the money, confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) between the international firms and banks are in the process of being completed. In some cases, agreements to engage in the work have also been signed. The next step is to sign commercial agreements with the relevant international firms.