Bangladesh Bank (BB) will legally contest a petition filed by the S Alam Group at the World Bank’s arbitration tribunal, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting on money laundering prevention and recovery of laundered assets at the Secretariat, chaired by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, the governor said the central bank would fight the case “on all legal grounds.”
Referring to the group’s move to seek arbitration, Dr Mansur remarked that S Alam’s claim of foreign nationality would be challenged.
“They claim to be Singaporean citizens. We will demonstrate that they are Bangladeshi citizens. He served as chairman and director of several Bangladeshi banks,” he said, adding that the case would be contested vigorously.
According to a report by the London-based Financial Times, lawyers representing S Alam Group founder-chairman Saiful Alam and his family filed the petition with ICSID in Washington on October 27.
The application alleges that the government froze bank accounts, seized assets, launched what it described as “baseless” investigations into business transactions, and carried out a “provocative media campaign,” causing losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the petition does not specify a precise compensation amount.
The arbitration has been initiated under the Bangladesh–Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty signed in 2004. The Financial Times reported that the S Alam family currently resides in Singapore and relinquished Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020, subsequently acquiring Singaporean citizenship between 2021 and 2023.
The family has alleged that the interim government led by Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus—formed after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government following the mass uprising on August 5, 2024—has taken punitive measures against them, including what they term arbitrary seizure and destruction of assets.
Asked about prospects for recovering laundered funds from abroad, Dr Mansur said the process typically takes four to five years. “It does not happen faster than that,” he said, expressing optimism about progress in the London case involving former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury.
“In that case, the defendant did not contest, so they have effectively lost. There is an opportunity there,” he noted, adding that Islami Bank Bangladesh and UCBL are parties to the case. He cautioned, however, that it is too early to say when funds might be repatriated, suggesting it could take several months.
The governor said multiple applications for asset recovery are already underway and described the process as lengthy but progressing. “The government is sincere and significant progress has been made,” he added.
Dr Mansur also said the government has released Tk 20,000 crore from the budget to capitalise the newly formed Combined Islami Bank following the merger of five Islamic banks.
On the return of deposits to customers of the former banks, he said it would take some time due to procedural issues, but plans are in place to credit depositors’ accounts directly so that all receive their money at once.