US state dept. spokesperson comments on Bangladeshi money launderers

The US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday was asked in a regular press briefing whether the government of the United States intends to impose new sanction on those Bangladeshi citizens involved in corruption and money laundering.

Matthew Miller in response said, “We never preview sanctions actions before they take place.”

Richard Nephew, the US State Department's coordinator for global anticorruption, wrapped up his visit to Bangladesh where he engaged with top officials. While in Bangladesh, renowned English newspaper Daily Star unveiled a significant report. The report disclosed that Mohammed Saiful Alam, closely connected to the present Sheikh Hasina administration and the owner of S Alam Group, had illicitly moved more than $1 billion abroad and set up a business empire overseas.

Statewatch.net and OCCRP have revealed similar reports on massive corruption and money laundering. During Richard Nephew’s meeting with Bangladeshi foreign secretary, he indicated that they might consider sanction as a tool against corruption. The question is, does the United States government intend to impose new sanctions, especially on those involved in corruption and money laundering?

In response, Matthew Miller said, “As I said in response to a different question earlier about a different country, we never preview sanctions actions before they take place. Generally speaking, sanctions can be a tool to fight corruption. We have other tools as well, such as freezing assets and giving partner nations information so they can prosecute cases.”

In reply to the same question, Miller stated that they encourage Bangladesh to undertake fair and impartial measures to eradicate corruption.

Miller was asked another question about the state of democracy and next parliamentary election in Bangladesh. He was asked about the protest taking place in front of the State Department so that Bangladesh can have a free and fair election and whether he had any comment on that?

Miller answered to the question saying, “As we have made clear many times, as I have made clear many times from this podium, we support free and fair elections in Bangladesh. We’ve made that clear publicly. We’ve made that clear in conversations with the Bangladeshi Government, and that will continue to be our policy.”