The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has revealed that assets worth Tk76,000 crore have been frozen at home and abroad in connection with 98 cases filed to investigate money laundered from Bangladesh.
Members of the family of deposed prime minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina are among those implicated in these investigations.
The information was shared during a press conference held at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters, where Ikhtiar Uddin Mohammed Mamun, the head of BFIU, detailed the agency’s activities for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
He added that the frozen assets include Tk57,000 crore located within Bangladesh and Tk19,000 crore held abroad, following court orders related to 11 joint money laundering investigations.
Progress on asset recovery
When questioned about the progress of recovering the laundered funds, the BFIU chief stated that the process is ongoing. “We are hopeful that by the end of this year, we will be able to provide the nation with some good news,” he said.
Under the interim government, investigations into Sheikh Hasina, her family, and 10 prominent business groups were prioritised to expedite the process. To facilitate these high-profile probes, 11 joint investigation committees comprising various state organisations were formed.
Regarding the specific number of family members involved, Mamun clarified that a precise count could not be provided.
“We do not conduct investigations based on political or any other identity,” he asserted, adding that actions such as freezing bank accounts are triggered by specific allegations rather than targeting individuals.
The Eastern Bank case
The press conference also touched upon allegations against Shawkat Ali Chowdhury, the chairman of Eastern Bank, regarding the laundering of $25 million (approximately Tk 307 crore) to the United Kingdom.
While the UK authorities reportedly detained the funds and sought information from Bangladesh, the money was subsequently moved to the United Arab Emirates because it was not intercepted in time.
Although the BFIU chief declined to comment on this during the session, a senior BFIU official later stated that there is a possibility of recovering a portion of the funds that moved from the UK to the Middle East.
Legal steps are being taken, and a part of the money is expected to be returned to the country by the end of this year.
Stalled agreements with Swiss Banks
The BFIU revealed that a significant portion of laundered wealth remains in Switzerland. According to 2025 statistics from the Swiss National Bank (SNB), total deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks reached 834.16 million Swiss Francs, equivalent to approximately Tk 12,763 crore.
This represents a 41 per cent increase from the 590 million Swiss Francs recorded in 2024.
While 90 countries have bilateral agreements with Switzerland for the automatic exchange of information, Bangladesh has yet to secure such a deal. Despite BFIU proposals sent in 2013, 2014, and 2018, no agreement has been reached.
Notably, the BFIU pointed out that neighbouring India has successfully signed such an agreement, whereas Bangladesh has not.
Mamun noted that there are currently no updates on the progress of a bilateral agreement. At present, cooperation is limited to a Memorandum of Understanding under the Egmont Group, of which both countries are members.
Without a formal bilateral treaty, the BFIU remains unable to obtain detailed information regarding the funds held by Bangladeshi citizens in Swiss accounts.
Surge in suspicious transactions
The BFIU report highlighted a sharp rise in Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), noting that while overall cash transactions actually decreased compared to the previous fiscal year, suspicious activity surged.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the agency received 30,199 reports from the financial sector – an increase of 12,854 reports or 74.10 per cent from the 17,345 reports received the previous year.
Of these, 20,524 were identified as suspicious transactions, while 9,675 cases involved the use of funds for suspicious activities.
The banking sector remains the primary source of these reports, showing a consistent upward trend over the last three fiscal years. The sector’s contribution to total reports was 91 per cent in 2022-23, 92 per cent in 2023-24, and reached 95 per cent in 2024-25.
Specifically, banks submitted 28,755 reports in the 2024-25 fiscal year, representing a nearly 80 per cent surge compared to the 15,991 reports filed in the previous year.
The BFIU chief acknowledged that money laundering methods are evolving, with online gambling and gaming now posing significant challenges. “We are equipping ourselves technologically to prevent these changing types of money laundering,” he concluded.
