Some laundered money to be repatriated by Feb: Finance Adviser

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has said on Tuesday it will be possible to repatriate a portion of the funds laundered abroad by next February.

Salehuddin Ahmed expressed this optimism while replying to queries from journalists after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

He, however, did not disclose exactly how much money could be brought back by this timeframe.

The Finance Adviser said, “The launderers know all the tricks. It takes some time to bring this back. But there has some progress. Discussions are going on with many legal firms. By February, some money may come back. For the rest of the money, we are preparing case by case.”

“No government will be able to avoid the formal process of bringing the money back. Suppose I just tell the Swiss Bank to return the money—they will not. Legal procedures must be followed. You know, we are giving the highest priority to 11–12 cases. Among the remaining cases, those involving more than Tk 2 billion are also being taken up.”

Replying to queries on whether the new government would continue this initiative, Salehuddin said, “They will be obliged to do so because if the process we start is not continued, the money cannot be brought back. If they just sit idle, the money will not return. If the money is to be recovered, the procedures must be followed. This is the international practice.”

“You know that some assets have already been seized. We have information on where their money is, where their accounts are, and in which countries they hold passports. Now it only takes the necessary time to complete the remaining tasks,” he added.

When asked about allegations that some advisers are allocating more funds to their own areas, Salehuddin Ahmed said, “No, no. These projects were taken up long ago.”

Replying to a query about a Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) report stating that three out of 10 households in the country suffer from malnutrition or food insecurity, the Finance Adviser said, “We do have some nutritional deficiencies, especially among children and mothers. We are trying our best to address it.”

“Our diet is not a balanced one. We rely too much on rice. Some protein is needed. For this, eggs are the most necessary,” he added.