Govt to contest S Alam Group's appeal at World Bank arbitration court
Once Saifuzzaman’s case in UK court is resolved, some laundered money is expected to return, says BB governor
The government has decided to legally challenge the application filed by the controversial business conglomerate S Alam Group with the World Bank's arbitration body, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur said today (17 December).
The business group's decision to approach the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) would be challenged through legal means by the central bank, he told reporters after the 30th meeting of the National Coordination Committee on money laundering prevention and counter-terrorist financing at the Secretariat. Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed chaired the meeting.
The development comes more than a month after lawyers representing S Alam Group founder and chairman Saiful Alam and his family submitted the arbitration claim to the ICSID in Washington on 27 October, according to a report by the London-based Financial Times.
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In its filing, the S Alam Group alleged that the Bangladeshi government had frozen its bank accounts, confiscated assets and carried out what it described as "baseless" investigations into its business transactions.
The application also claimed that the S Alam family had been subjected to an "incendiary media campaign".
The lawyers said these actions had caused losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, although they did not provide a specific figure for compensation.
The arbitration case was filed under the Bangladesh-Singapore bilateral investment treaty signed in 2004. The S Alam family is currently residing in Singapore.
According to the Financial Times report, the family renounced Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020 and obtained Singaporean citizenship between 2021 and 2023.
However, Governor Mansur rejected S Alam family's Singaporean citizenship claim.
"We will show that Saiful Alam is a Bangladeshi citizen. He was a chairman and a director of several Bangladeshi banks. This is a case of a thief crying the loudest. We will fight the case," he said.
As per the Financial Times report, the S Alam family has alleged that the Bangladesh interim government is taking various punitive actions specifically targeting them, including unjustified seizure and confiscation of assets, as well as the destruction of property.
Asset recovery will take time
Speaking at a Bangladesh Bank event in Cox's Bazar last week, Mansur addressed the issue of recovering laundered money.
He said the government has formed a joint investigation team to recover the syphoned-off funds, and investigations are under way at a fast pace through this team.
He noted that banks are working with law firms, with the central bank facilitating the contractual arrangements.
Today, when asked whether there was any immediate prospect of recovering laundered money, Mansur said such efforts usually take time. "Bringing money back from overseas takes at least four to five years. It does not happen in less time than that," he said.
However, he expressed hope of progress in a case in London involving Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the former land minister and an Awami League politician.
"In that case, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury did not contest the proceedings, so they have effectively lost the case. There is an opportunity there," he added.
The governor said Islami Bank Bangladesh and United Commercial Bank were parties to that case, but it was not possible to say when the money would be recovered.
"It could take February, March, April, May or June," he added.
He further noted that the outcome of other cases would depend on applications already filed, describing the process as lengthy.
"Many applications have already been submitted. It is a long process, and there is little we can do to speed it up. But there has been a lot of progress, and the government is sincere about this," he added.
Govt moves to update anti-money laundering law
Today, at the 30th meeting of the National Coordination Committee, the government decided to amend parts of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, to strengthen efforts to recover money and assets syphoned off abroad and to bring the law in line with current challenges.
According to officials, the meeting focused on formulating and implementing updated guidelines and policies to curb money laundering and terrorist financing, with particular emphasis on speeding up investigations and legal proceedings in priority cases.
The committee reviewed in detail the progress of joint search and investigation teams working on 11 priority cases identified for the recovery of assets laundered overseas.
In these cases, a total of 104 cases have so far been filed. Charge sheets have been submitted in 14 cases, while courts have delivered verdicts in four cases.
Officials said movable and immovable assets worth Tk55,638 crore in Bangladesh and Tk10,508 crore abroad have been attached and frozen as part of the recovery process.
The meeting was also informed that 21 Mutual Legal Assistance Requests (MLARs) related to the 11 priority cases have been sent to the relevant countries.
The committee directed all concerned agencies to take effective steps to submit charge sheets as quickly as possible, send MLARs without delay, and ensure the speedy disposal of the cases.
The meeting also discussed Bangladesh's preparedness for the fourth-round Mutual Evaluation by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), scheduled for 2027-28. The evaluation will assess Bangladesh's compliance with international standards on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
Treating the upcoming evaluation as a top priority, the committee instructed all relevant ministries, divisions and agencies to begin the necessary preparations.
