HC grants 3 months for G2G deals to bring back laundered money

The High Court asked for Government-to-Government (G2G) deals within three months to bring back money laundered abroad.

A division bench comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat issued an order to the government authorities concerned on Wednesday.

The HC passed the ruling following a report submitted by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) that ministry of finance started process to enter Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreements with the USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Switzerland, Thailand and Hong Kong.

BFIU also submitted a petition praying for three more months to come up with a progress report on the issue.

The HC asked Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit to submit progress report within three months and fixed February 5 for further hearing on the matter.

The HC order arose out of August 10 statement of Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard who told press that Bangladesh government did not seek any information on its citizens' money deposited in Swiss banks.

Complying with the HC order, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank and chief executive of BFIU Md Masud Biswas submitted the report.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik appeared for the state and BFIU report while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan for Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).