S Alam sets six-month ultimatum for dispute resolution, threatens international arbitration

S Alam Group chairman Md Saiful Alam has set a six-month deadline for the interim government for dispute resolution. He would go for international arbitration if the issue is not settled within the stipulated time.

Md Saiful Alam claimed that the interim government is confiscating his assets and obstructing his investments. S Alam has sent dispute resolution notices to several advisers, including chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus. The six-month ultimatum was declared in these notices.

The interim government has claimed billions of money was laundered abroad during the rule of Awami League. Such an initiative from the business conglomerate may hamper the process to bring back the laundered money, reports the Financial Times.

The notice was served on 18 December. It states S Alam’s family has been permanently living in Singapore. They got the country’s citizenship between 2021 and 2023. They renounced Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020.

The Financial Times report says US-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan served the notice on behalf of the S Alam. The newspaper has got a copy of this notice.

The notice states, “The value of the investors’ investments has been destroyed, in whole or in part, through the acts and omissions of Bangladesh, its agencies and instrumentalities. Those acts and omissions, which are ongoing, have violated and continue to violate the investors’ rights under [investment treaties] and the laws of Bangladesh, and give rise to the present dispute.”

Earlier, Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H Mansur, in an interview with Financial Times in October, said, “Saiful Alam, his associates and other groups had siphoned money out of the banking system after taking over leading banks with the help of members of a powerful military intelligence agency.

“Of these conglomerates, the S Alam Group alone laundered some USD 10 billion. This is the biggest incident of bank looting as per the international standard,” he said.

Ahsan Mansur further said the S Alam Group siphoned off a total of 1.2 trillion.

Following the interview S Alam Group chairman Md Saiful Alam claimed himself as a Singapore citizen and said the Bangladesh Bank is taking ‘intimidating actions’ against the conglomerate. So, as a Singapore citizen and as per the International Investment Treaty, he deserves protection.

Now, he clarified that he would go for international arbitration if the matters are not settled within six months.