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The Central Bank of Bangladesh has hired Big Four Accountancy companies EY, Deloitte and KPMG to carry out an “activation quality assessment” of banks claiming $ 17 billion of business people near the former leader Sheikh Hasina has Bank Governor Ahsan Mansur said.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Mansur said that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit had also formed 11 joint research teams to detect and recover assets that were bought according to the funds with the funds that have been persuaded from the banks and to help with Continuing those responsible.
Mansur, who was appointed Governor of the Central Bank by Interim -National Leader Muhammad Yunus, after Sheikh Hasina fled to India in August, said the investigation would look at 10 leading Bengal companies and the deposed former leader and her family members.
The governor said that the three international accountancy companies had already started working on assessing activa quality. “We will determine how much assets perform, whoever does not perform, who has taken that possession, and at the same time we will do a forensic audit,” he said.
KPMG confirmed that his Sri Lanka company was contracted to support the assessment. EY and Deloitte did not respond to a request for comments.
Mansur, a former IMF officer, has been given the task of helping to stabilize Bangladesh’s economy and the process of recovering what he is estimated at least TK2TN ($ 16.4 billion) of banks during the 15 years old when Hasina and her Awami League party were in power.
In an interview in October, Mansur told the Financial Times that various leading banks had been taken over with the help of the country’s military intelligence service, in some cases “under shot”.
He said that the Asset Quality Review looked at six banks, in which five shares of s Alam had a conglomerate led by the Singapore established Bangladeshi Tycoon Mohammed Saiful Alam.
“As part of that research, the old MDs of these banks have been asked to take leaves of absence, so that the quality is unhindered and the asset assessment is not disturbed,” Mansur said.
This month, the anti-corruption committee of Bangladesh has submitted a case against various people, including two of Alam’s sons, who accused them of embezzlement TK11.3BN in the form of loans. A Dhaka court ordered the seizure of various property in connection with the case.
Alam’s lawyers Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan told the FT that he and investors in the conglomerate “had not committed misconduct, and they are willing to enter into legal proceedings to protect their investments in Bangladesh if necessary”.
Quinn Emanuel said that Alam and the investors of the group “transparency and the application of international standards” welcome “, but that the position of Mansur in conflict was as the most important engine of the Yunus government reforms of the banking sector.
Alam’s lawyers, who wrote to Yunus last month, warned that they were willing to launch international arbitration if they could not resolve their dispute with Dhaka, said accusations of money laundering and all other allegations against the businessman and his family ” unfounded.
The Government of Yunus has called in international aid for its efforts to trace and recover money that claims it was removed from the country, including the British international anti-corruption coordination center and the American treasury. The treasury offers Yunus’ technical assistance, while Bangladesh is preparing to make formal requests for legal assistance from other countries.
The interim leaders of Bangladesh have welcomed the dismissal this month as the British city minister of Tulip Siddiq, a member of Labor Party, who is the niece of Hasina, who they think will draw attention to their broader urge for the missing money recover.
Siddiq resigned after she was mentioned in two current ACC corruption probes in Bangladesh and was confronted with allegations that she had benefited from property related to her aunt’s Awami League
A spokesperson for Siddiq said this month that no evidence had been presented for the accusations against her and that she “completely denies the claims”.
Mansur said that public pressure had forced the resignation of Siddiq.
“We are encouraged by the response of the international community,” he said. “Politicians are aware of this and hopefully they will be under public pressure at home to support this cause.”
Additional reporting by Redwan Ahmed in Dhaka