Govt to appoint law firm to bring back laundered money

Bangladesh will appoint legal firms to bring back the laundered money from abroad, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur.
While the development partners and the global community are cooperating in this regard, there is a legal process, he told journalists yesterday at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC.
“We are trying to follow the process. We will appoint private legal firms in this regard,” said Mansur, who is in the US capital for the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings.
Bangladesh has yet to decide which firm or firms will be appointed.
“We will take policy support from the WB and the US government in which criteria we will work together and which type of firms we will appoint.”
On October 26, Bangladesh had a discussion with the development partners including the WB and Asian Development Bank in this regard, Mansur added.
The government will take financial and technical support from different development partners, said Salehuddin Ahmed, the finance adviser to the interim government.
“We got positive responses from all of them,” he said, without disclosing the value of the assistance.
However, nothing has been finalised yet.
“We have to first ensure how repayments will be done before taking any kind of support as a loan. They also have some queries in this regard. A mission will go to Bangladesh for negotiation and the final decision will be made then,” he said.
The development partners want to provide support beyond Bangladesh’s absorbing capacity, said Lutfey Siddiqui, the chief adviser’s special envoy on international affairs.
Meanwhile, Mansur said banks’ assets will be evaluated by international auditors.
“The evaluation will give a clear picture of banks’ capital adequacy shortfall and the extent of recapitalisation needed.”
The assessment will start in November.
In a sideline meeting, the IMF set Sri Lanka as a model for countries aspiring to recover quickly from an economic crisis.
Asked if Bangladesh will follow the same path, Ahmed said Sri Lanka got around a year for their reforms and economic recovery and Bangladesh has passed only two months.
“Bangladesh will do better than Sri Lanka,” he added.