Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
The interim government of Bangladesh will enact a special law aimed streamlining the recovery process of laundered money in the quickest possible time. Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus’ press secretary Shafiqul Alam, while speaking at a press conference on Monday at the Foreign Service Academy, said that the law will be formulated within one week.
He made the comments after Muhammad Yunus’s meeting with a high-powered inter agency taskforce aimed at bringing back money that has been illegally taken abroad. Shafiqul said that a total of $234 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh between 2009 and August 5, 2023, according to the white paper on the state of the economy.
He said, “Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus on Monday called for expediting efforts to bring back billions in stolen money — both from the banking system and other means.” “It’s the top priority of the government. The government wants to bring the stolen money back at any cost,” Shafiqul said, quoting Yunus. The press secretary said the interim government has already talked to around 200 law firms and it might go for agreements with 30 to facilitate the process.