Bangladesh interim government chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam on Thursday said that the main focus of Professor Muhammad Yunus鈥檚 tour to London was to recover the stolen assets.
鈥楧uring the Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 reign, $234 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh to various countries. A part of it was laundered to the UK,鈥� he told a press briefing in London.
Shafiqul mentioned that the officials of the UK government were providing significant assistance to Bangladesh in that regard.
The press secretary said that recovering laundered assets was a very important task of the interim government. 鈥榃e are doing it so that the money can be brought back to the country and used for the welfare of the people.鈥�
National security adviser Khalilur Rahman, special envoy to the chief adviser Lutfey Siddiqi, anti-corruption commission chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen and Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H Mansur held meetings with the UK authorities, including the National Crimes Agency regarding the recovery of stolen assets.
Shafiqul said that the NCA informed that it froze an asset of former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury.
Terming the Britain an old of friend of Bangladesh with good relations, the press secretary hoped that the result of these meetings would be visible soon.
About the meeting between Yunus and Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 acting chairman Tarique Rahman to be held in London on Friday, he said that it would be a very important meeting in the context of the national elections scheduled to be held in April next year and the current overall situation of the country.
