Singapore鈥檚 Financial Intelligence Unit has urged the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit to provide details on the local and foreign assets of S Alam Group and its owners.
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and executive director Husne Ara Shikha said on Thursday that BFIU received a letter from FIU of Singapore about the issue.
BFIU officials said that they had been preparing the details on the controversial group and would send the information to the FIU of Singapore.
The BFIU, responsible for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of weapons of mass destruction, is tasked with exchanging intelligence on illicit financial activities with foreign counterparts, they said.
Media reported that S Alam Group had amassed nearly $1 billion in suspicious assets in Singapore alone, despite having no significant business operations there, raising serious concerns about the legality of these properties.
S Alam group, under the patronage of the ousted Awami League-led government, allegedly withdrew around Tk 2 lakh crore from Bangladesh鈥檚 banking system and a large amount of these loans were allegedly laundered to foreign locations including Singapore and the UAE, BB officials said.
The group exploited its influence to seize control of eight banks, namely First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, National Bank, and Bangladesh Commerce Bank.
The group allegedly engaged in rampant irregularities in recruitment and loan disbursement while controlling the banks.
After Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 fall on August 5, these banks were freed from S Alam鈥檚 grip.
S Alam Group owner Saiful Alam and his family members had reportedly obtained citizenship in Singapore and Cyprus.
Bangladesh Bank, under the leadership of former governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, provided all possible kinds of liquidity support to these banks despite knowing that these banks continued to allow S Alam Group to withdraw money as anonymous loans.
After exhausting all legal avenues, Bangladesh Bank resorted to unethical and illegal means to provide these banks with additional liquidity.
Though the banks had no funds in their current accounts, the central bank then printed money to keep them afloat, according to Bangladesh Bank officials.
As criticism mounted from various corners, Bangladesh Bank was forced to halt this unsustainable practice and began searching for alternative methods to support the struggling banks.
At last, the central bank, based on a fake dollar purchase quotation, provided a total of $1.1 billion equivalent in financial support to Islami Bank Bangladesh between January and July.
The interim government, Bangladesh Bank, BFIU, and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission have recently taken some strict measures against the group.