The United States (US) has assured Bangladesh of providing support to repatriating its stolen money.
US Charge d'Affaires Helen LaFave made the assurance as she paid a farewell call on Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his office in Tejgaon in Dhaka on Thursday.
During the meeting, LaFave said the US was already supporting Bangladesh with advice and other assistance to help recover the money and bring it back to Bangladesh.
She said repatriating stolen money is hard, but it was doable.
“We will definitely make it happen,” the Chief Adviser said.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has accused business tycoons with ties to the ousted Sheikh Hasina regime of colluding with the country's military intelligence agency to siphon $17 billion from the banking sector during her rule. He estimated that around Tk 2 trillion ($16.7 billion) was taken out of Bangladesh following these takeovers, using tactics like issuing loans to new shareholders and inflating import invoices.The Chief Adviser praised LaFave for her service as a top diplomat and appreciated her sincere efforts to advance Bangladesh-US relations at a crucial time.
“I am very proud to witness history,” Helen LaFave said as she recounted her memories during the student-led mass uprising in July-August. US Charge d'Affaires handed over a letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Prof Yunus.
The acting US envoy told Prof Yunus that the US was expediting resettlement of the Rohingyas from the Bangladesh camp to the North American nation.
Their talks also covered judicial reforms, South Asian electricity connectivity, counterterrorism, efforts to repatriate tens of billions of dollars stolen from Bangladesh during the dictatorship, reforms in civil bureaucracy and labour issues. Prof Yunus said his government was also committed to carrying out sweeping labour reforms.
The US envoy said a number of senior US officials would visit Bangladesh in the next few months in an effort to cement ties between the two friendly nations.
