The High Court on Wednesday asked the government to take initiatives for government-to-government (G2G) agreements along with Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements (MLA Agreements) with different countries to recover or bring back the money laundered abroad.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing on a report submitted by the BFIU on the various steps taken to bring back the laundered money.
The court, however, fixed February 5 in 2023 for passing further orders on the issue and asked the Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit to submit a progress report within this period.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik placed the BFIU report in the court, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the hearing.
Later, Mr Amin Uddin Manik said, "We have placed the report of the BFIU regarding the recovery of the smuggled money. The report mentions taking steps to enter into MLA agreements with at least 10 countries.”
“Three months’ time was sought from the court to implement these steps and to report progress on further necessary measures. The court granted three months’ time and fixed February 5 for further order on the issue."
The BFIU suggested the finance ministry enter into Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements with USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Switzerland, Thailand and Hongkong (China), according to the report submitted in the High Court.
The Head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Md Masud Biswas, sent the report complying with an earlier order of the High Court.
On August 10, ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard said in a programme that Bangladesh government did not want specific information on citizens' money in Swiss banks. On the following day the HC asked government to inform the court about the steps of their concerned organizations over the statement of the ambassador.
In view of the Swiss ambassador's statement, a report was submitted to the court on behalf of the Bangladesh Bank and the BFIU. As the BFIU’s report was submitted without following the proper process, the High Court summoned head of BFIU Md Masud Biswas.
Mr Masud appeared before the HC sought apology on August 31. On that day, the court asked Masud Biswas to submit another report in this regard and fixed October 26 for further order.
