The Bangladesh Nationalist Party said on Monday that the European Union assured that it would help Bangladesh to recover laundered money.
The commitment was given by the acting European Union ambassador to Bangladesh Bernd Spanier at a meeting with a delegation of BNP at the BNP chairperson鈥檚 Gulshan office in Dhaka.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir led the delegation, which also included the party鈥檚 standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and its organising secretary Sama Obaid.
Following the meeting, Khasru told reporters that during the hour-long meeting, which started at about 10:30am, Spanier assured the EU鈥檚 support in recovering the large sums of money聽 siphoned abroad during the tenure of the deposed ruler Sheikh Hasina.
He said that they had discussed the overall situation in Bangladesh in the wake of the political changeover triggered by the student-led mass movement.
鈥榃e assessed the future trajectory of Bangladesh鈥檚 democracy, politics, and economy,鈥� he said, adding that they had also explored ways in which the European Union could support and collaborate with Bangladesh to help the country overcome its current challenges.
Khasru said that the country鈥檚 economic situation and the process of ensuring good governance were also discussed in the meeting.
鈥榃e also discussed remedies for institutions in Bangladesh that had been destroyed. We talked about how the EU can help us bring these institutions back on track,鈥� he said, mentioning that their party sought cooperation from the EU for the continuation of the export of a significant portion of Bangladeshi products to European countries.
He said that they requested suggestions from the EU on implementing reforms in the financial sector to help the country鈥檚 economy make a turnaround.
Asked if there was a discussion about elections, he said, 鈥楾here is no chance for the restoration of democracy without elections. Naturally, this matter was discussed.鈥�
In response to another question, the BNP leader said that a substantial amount of money had been siphoned off Bangladesh, and they discussed efforts to bring this money back.
He said that the European Union was willing to cooperate.