Saturday, 21 December, 2024
Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has accused business tycoons linked to the former Sheikh Hasina regime of colluding with the military intelligence agency to siphon $17 billion from the banking sector during her rule.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mansur, who assumed his role as governor after Hasina fled Bangladesh in August, claimed the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) facilitated hostile takeovers of major banks. He estimated that approximately Tk 2 trillion ($16.7 billion) was moved out of Bangladesh through tactics such as loans to new shareholders and inflated import invoices.
“This is the largest bank heist by international standards,” Mansur told the Financial Times. “It didn’t happen anywhere on this scale. It was state-sponsored and couldn’t have occurred without intelligence agents putting guns to bank CEOs’ heads.”
Mansur directly accused Mohammed Saiful Alam, chairman of the industrial conglomerate S Alam Group, and his associates of siphoning at least $10 billion from the banking sector with alleged DGFI support.
Responding to the allegations, law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, representing S Alam, rejected Mansur’s claims, denouncing them as false. The firm accused the interim government of a “coordinated campaign” against S Alam Group and other leading businesses, disregarding “basic principles of due process.” It added, “This campaign has undermined investor confidence and worsened law and order. The accusations against the Group are surprising and unjustified, given its record and contributions.”
The UK-based Financial Times reported it was unable to reach the DGFI or the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate for comment.
Hasina, who governed Bangladesh for over two decades, fled to India in August following a student-led mass uprising citing allegations of vote rigging, political repression, and rampant corruption. The interim government, now led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to recover funds allegedly misappropriated by Hasina’s regime and its affiliates.
Mansur, a former International Monetary Fund official, told the Financial Times he has sought assistance from the UK to track overseas assets linked to Hasina’s allies. He alleged that during Hasina’s rule, intelligence officials forcibly removed bank board members and pressured them at gunpoint to transfer their shares to “Mr S Alam” and resign.
Former Islami Bank Bangladesh CEO Mohammad Abdul Mannan corroborated similar incidents, telling the Financial Times he faced pressure from “people connected to the then-government” as early as 2013 to appoint board members favoured by the prime minister’s office. Mannan also recounted an incident where government-linked individuals conducted a search of a hotel room occupied by a foreign bank director.
In January 2017, Mannan claimed he was detained by a senior defence official en route to a board meeting and held until he agreed to resign. Recently appointed as chairman of First Security Islami Bank under central bank oversight, Mannan alleged that fake resignation letters on bank letterhead were prepared for forced resignations.
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Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has accused business tycoons linked to the former Sheikh Hasina regime of colluding with the military intelligence agency to siphon $17 billion from the banking sector during her rule.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mansur, who assumed his role as governor after Hasina fled Bangladesh in August, claimed the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) facilitated hostile takeovers of major banks. He estimated that approximately Tk 2 trillion ($16.7 billion) was moved out of Bangladesh through tactics such as loans to new shareholders and inflated import invoices.
“This is the largest bank heist by international standards,” Mansur told the Financial Times. “It didn’t happen anywhere on this scale. It was state-sponsored and couldn’t have occurred without intelligence agents putting guns to bank CEOs’ heads.”
Mansur directly accused Mohammed Saiful Alam, chairman of the industrial conglomerate S Alam Group, and his associates of siphoning at least $10 billion from the banking sector with alleged DGFI support.
Responding to the allegations, law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, representing S Alam, rejected Mansur’s claims, denouncing them as false. The firm accused the interim government of a “coordinated campaign” against S Alam Group and other leading businesses, disregarding “basic principles of due process.” It added, “This campaign has undermined investor confidence and worsened law and order. The accusations against the Group are surprising and unjustified, given its record and contributions.”
The UK-based Financial Times reported it was unable to reach the DGFI or the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate for comment.
Hasina, who governed Bangladesh for over two decades, fled to India in August following a student-led mass uprising citing allegations of vote rigging, political repression, and rampant corruption. The interim government, now led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to recover funds allegedly misappropriated by Hasina’s regime and its affiliates.
Mansur, a former International Monetary Fund official, told the Financial Times he has sought assistance from the UK to track overseas assets linked to Hasina’s allies. He alleged that during Hasina’s rule, intelligence officials forcibly removed bank board members and pressured them at gunpoint to transfer their shares to “Mr S Alam” and resign.
Former Islami Bank Bangladesh CEO Mohammad Abdul Mannan corroborated similar incidents, telling the Financial Times he faced pressure from “people connected to the then-government” as early as 2013 to appoint board members favoured by the prime minister’s office. Mannan also recounted an incident where government-linked individuals conducted a search of a hotel room occupied by a foreign bank director.
In January 2017, Mannan claimed he was detained by a senior defence official en route to a board meeting and held until he agreed to resign. Recently appointed as chairman of First Security Islami Bank under central bank oversight, Mannan alleged that fake resignation letters on bank letterhead were prepared for forced resignations.
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