The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has frozen assets worth Tk 760 billion linked to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, members of her family and 10 business groups as part of ongoing money laundering investigations.
BFIU Head Ikhtiar Uddin Mohammad Mamun announced the figures on Wednesday while presenting the agency's Annual Report 2024–25 at Bangladesh Bank headquarters.
He said the assets had been frozen under court orders in connection with 11 joint money laundering investigations.
“Assets worth Tk 760 billion have been frozen under court orders in 11 joint investigations into money laundering. Of this, Tk 570 billion is located within the country, while Tk 190 billion is abroad,” Mamun said.
He added that the frozen assets would remain under court order until the legal process was completed.
“The money has been seized by court order and the assets will remain frozen until the legal process is completed,” he said.
Asked about progress in recovering laundered funds, Mamun said the process was continuing and expressed optimism about further developments.
“Our work is ongoing. We are optimistic that by the end of this year we will be able to give the people of the country some good news,” he said.
He said the BFIU remained committed to protecting public assets and was conducting investigations into suspicious financial transactions impartially, regardless of political affiliation or personal identity.
The BFIU, Bangladesh's financial intelligence agency responsible for analysing transactions linked to money laundering and terrorist financing, has also strengthened its anti-money laundering efforts by expanding the use of technology, including artificial intelligence, to detect suspicious transactions more effectively, Mamun said.
Following the fall of the Awami League government during the student-led mass uprising on 5 August 2024, allegations of corruption, financial irregularities and money laundering involving the previous administration came under renewed scrutiny. Sheikh Hasina left for India after losing power.
Under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the BFIU and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) launched coordinated investigations into alleged money laundering. The agencies prioritised cases involving Hasina, her family members and 10 major business groups. However, the BFIU did not identify the business groups or provide further details about the frozen assets.
The annual report showed a sharp increase in suspicious financial reporting during the 2024–25 fiscal year. The BFIU received 30,199 suspicious reports, comprising 20,524 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and 9,675 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). This represented a 74 per cent increase from 17,345 reports in 2023–24 and was nearly six times higher than the 5,280 reports submitted in 2020–21.
The agency attributed the rise to stronger regulatory enforcement, tighter compliance requirements, improved transaction monitoring and pattern detection technologies, greater awareness among financial institutions of money laundering and terrorist financing risks, and increased suspicious activities involving online gambling and betting, foreign exchange, cryptocurrency trading and digital hundi.
The banking sector remained the main source of financial intelligence, accounting for 95 per cent of all reports during the fiscal year, up from 92 per cent a year earlier. Banks submitted 28,755 STRs and SARs, an increase of 80 per cent from 15,991 reports in 2023–24.
Although financial institutions and money remitters also recorded increases in reporting over the past three years, they contributed only about one per cent and four per cent, respectively, of the total reports received in 2024–25.
The report also highlighted closer cooperation between the BFIU and law enforcement agencies. Requests for financial intelligence rose by around 15 per cent to 1,329 during the fiscal year, compared with 1,157 in the previous year. The CID and the ACC were the largest users of BFIU intelligence.
Meanwhile, the agency recorded a year-on-year decline in Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs), which are mandatory for cash deposits or withdrawals of Tk 1 million or more in a single day. Banks and financial institutions reported 31.25 million cash transactions worth Tk 19,452 billion, while financial companies reported 1,484 such transactions valued at Tk 2.17 billion.
According to the report, the decline in CTRs reflects Bangladesh Bank's continued efforts to promote a cashless and digitally enabled financial system.
.jpg "PM may reshuffle ministers, appoint advisers: Zahed")
