Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has leveled serious accusations against business tycoons connected to the recently toppled government of Sheikh Hasina, alleging they collaborated with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) to siphon off nearly $17 billion from Bangladesh’s banking sector.
Mansur, who assumed the governorship after Hasina fled the country in August, detailed the alleged corruption in an interview with the Financial Times.
According to Mansur, an estimated Tk 2 trillion ($16.7 billion) was funneled out of the country through manipulated bank takeovers, inflating import invoices, and providing loans to newly installed shareholders.
“This is the biggest, highest robbing of banks by any international standards,” Mansur said, asserting that these schemes were state-sponsored and backed by intelligence agency coercion.
Among those named was Mohammed Saiful Alam, chair of the S Alam Group, who, Mansur claimed, “siphoned off” at least $10 billion after seizing control of banks with DGFI’s assistance.
S Alam Group issued a rebuttal through law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, stating that Mansur’s allegations are baseless and part of a “coordinated campaign” against leading businesses, which they claim has harmed investor confidence and disrupted law and order.
The military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, and DGFI have not commented on the allegations.
The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to recover funds allegedly misappropriated during Hasina’s two-decade tenure, which was marred by accusations of vote rigging, corruption, and repression of opposition.
