The interim government of Bangladesh has sought assistance from the United Kingdom to investigate the overseas wealth of allies of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as the new administration intensifies its crackdown on members of her ousted regime, according to a report by The Financial Times on Wednesday.
Ahsan H Mansur, Bangladesh鈥檚 new central bank governor, stated that the administration was probing whether Hasina鈥檚 government siphoned around Tk 2 trillion (拢13 billion) from the banking system to foreign accounts. Mansur said that he had sought help from the UK and other countries, including the US, Singapore, and the UAE, to track these funds.
The British daily newspaper reported that Bangladeshi officials, in particular, were investigating a UK property portfolio worth 拢150 million, owned by former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury.
The Financial Times found that the bulk of these properties were acquired between 2019 and 2022, coinciding with Saifuzzaman鈥檚 tenure as a land minister.
The properties include Emerson Bainbridge House in Fitzrovia, central London, 61 properties in Tower Hamlets, east London, and a Co-op supermarket site in Bristol.
The exact financing for these UK property purchases remained unclear, though charges registered at Companies House suggest the use of mortgage debt.
Earlier this year, Transparency International UK flagged Saifuzzaman鈥檚 British real estate portfolio as an example of 鈥榰nexplained wealth鈥� that warranted further investigation, the report said.
Mansur praised the UK government鈥檚 cooperation, mentioning that British officials had offered technical support during discussions.
On the alleged laundering of nearly $17 billion, roughly Tk 2 trillion, Mansur remarked, 鈥榓 heist of this scale could not have occurred without the prime minister鈥檚 knowledge.鈥� He, however, noted that the investigation was still in its early stages.
The inquiry came as Bangladesh鈥檚 interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, prioritises recovering misappropriated funds.
Sheikh Hasina, who resigned as prime minister and fled to India on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising, was under scrutiny for alleged corruption during her nearly two-decade rule.
The wealth of her allies, including Saifuzzaman, was under investigation.
Saifuzzaman denied any wrongdoing and claimed that his wealth was the result of legitimate business activities, according to the report.
The UK government, in line with its long-standing policy, declined to comment on whether any formal requests for legal assistance had been made by Bangladeshi authorities, the report said.
