By IANS
Dhaka : Authorities in Bangladesh are consulting Britain’s Scotland Yard to recover money laundered and stashed in that country and say that the British have promised to help.
The army-backed caretaker government, conducting a massive anti-corruption drive since February, is planning to sign a treaty with the British government in this regard, The Daily Star said Wednesday.
Popularly known as The Yard, the British law-enforcement agency is responsible for policing the Greater London area as well as for helping other countries in investigating criminal offences.
“We are working to strike a deal with Scotland Yard for recovering the money smuggled from the country,” Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Secretary Mukhles Ur Rahman said.
“This is a fresh effort of its kind which will inspire other countries, especially the commonwealth countries, to assist us in this regard,” he added.
Before signing the treaty, the Bangladesh government needs to promulgate laws giving the specific bilateral relation legality for getting regular assistance in the future.
“A dialogue is on regarding various strategic issues as the matter is between two states. It is also necessary to give the effort legality to yield long-term results from such a treaty,” said the ACC secretary.
The ground was prepared a few weeks ago when ACC chairperson Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowhdury visited Scotland Yard, the newspaper said.
The idea of signing an agreement stemmed from the thought of giving concrete shape to The Yard’s assurance of giving occasional assistance to Bangladesh.
Since the drive against high profile corruption suspects had been initiated in February, the interim government has often talked about recovering the huge amount of the money siphoned offshore over the years.
But there is no real estimate of the funds stashed in various foreign banks. “I don’t know the specific figure of the money siphoned offshore,” said Rahman.
Different sources said that between the months of April and August this year the government had recovered more than 33 billion takas (approx $50 million), 4.3 billion takas of which have been deposited so far with the country’s central bank, Bangladesh Bank.
Meanwhile, John Dennis, director for Asia at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury visited the ACC office Tuesday and assured help “if they are provided with specific authentic information”, the newspaper said.
“We are glad to help ACC in its activities. The anti-corruption drive is extremely important to create a responsible and responsive political society,” said Dennis.