Some 102 Bangladeshi citizens have 367 overseas bank accounts in 13 countries, the highest in Canada followed by Australia and Singapore, intelligence data showed.
Malaysia, the UK, the UAE, the USA and Thailand have also a significant number of Bangladeshi bank accounts holders. Of the individuals, 36 have bank accounts in multiple countries.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and different law enforcement agencies have traced the bank accounts, suspecting Bangladeshi citizens of siphoned off money into some of the bank accounts.
The BFIU submitted the report to the High Court (HC) last year.
The FE correspondent obtained the report that reveals a detailed scenario on the asset recovery process taken by Bangladesh.
A BFIU official said the HC instructed the unit to prepare a report with recommendations and existing asset of asset recovery mechanism in Bangladesh.
However, there was no progress on the report yet though it has provided intensive cross-border analysis, he added.
Until January, 2023, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the CID, the Central Intelligence Cell of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission have suspected that around Tk 26.01 billion money or assets has been siphoned off from Bangladesh into bank accounts in 18 countries until January 25, 2023, the BFIU report said.
The six entities have filed a total of 59 cases to recover the assets. However, none of the countries responded until preparing the report by the BFIU last year.
Bangladesh has signed a total of 67 mutual legal assistances with these countries to recover the money.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data show that less than 1.0 per cent of the stolen assets have been recovered globally despite several efforts.
Although Bangladeshi account for only 3.0 per cent of total deposits in Swiss bank, the government could not get the amount sent from Bangladesh, the report said.
The BFIU report, however, said many Bangladeshis have overseas business so it is not impossible to have valid bank accounts there. It is not that all money of the foreign account holders is the laundered money."
Stolen Asset Recovery Initiate (StAR) data said a total of $423.5 million has been recovered between 2006 to 2012 globally while volume of siphoned assets was $20-40 billion per year on an average.
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