London to help Dhaka retrieve laundered money

Britain expects the interim government to lay out the vision of how it will restore peace, democratic governance, and promote national reconciliation, said UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific Catherine West.

“We expect Prof Yunus to lay out his vision for how all that will unfold. The UK will seek to support the people of Bangladesh as they move forward in the next phase,” she told reporters after a meeting with Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain at the foreign ministry.

West, who arrived in Dhaka on Saturday for a two-day visit, is the first UK minister to visit Bangladesh since the formation of the interim government following the ouster of the Awami League regime.

Earlier, she met Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus at the State Guesthouse Jamuna.

She told him the UK government would extend full support to Bangladesh in its efforts to bring back billions of dollars that was laundered.

Yunus said returning the money laundered by corrupt politicians, oligarchs, and bureaucrats is a top priority of the interim government, and quoted a recent Transparency International Bangladesh report saying over 12 billion dollars were annually siphoned off abroad.

According to a statement from the chief adviser’s press wing, Prof Yunus said the reforms undertaken by the government are aimed at ensuring free and fair polls in the country, and to break away from the rampant vote rigging practiced by the previous regime.

West told him that Britain would like to see vibrant debates on the key aspects of electoral, judiciary, and constitutional reforms.

“Debates are very important,” she said.

Yunus also reiterated his call for creating a “UN-overseen safe zone” for communities in Myanmar’s violence-plagued Rakhine so that they don’t have to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

The chief adviser and UK minister discussed geopolitical issues, minority rights, ties with South Asian neighbours, and Bangladesh’s recent 40-megawatt energy deal with Nepal.

Yunus said his government has fully backed the creation of a South Asia electricity grid to bring power from hydroelectricity-rich Nepal and Bhutan.

He said Bangladesh can ease off its reliance on fossil fuels if it can import renewable energy from the two Himalayan countries, adding that Bangladesh needs collaboration with India to this effect.

At the meeting with Touhid Hossain, West conveyed British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s greetings. She also underscored UK’s priorities on migration, maritime cooperation, and cyber security.

Touhid sought the international community’s support for the Rohingyas and said the only solution to this crisis lies in their safe and sustainable repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar.

With regard to the Point-based Immigration System, he called for the arrangement of mutual recognition of qualifications.

Responding to a reporter’s question on BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman’s return, West said they did not discuss individual cases but they want to support the government because it is in a period of transition.

“We want to support the interim government in all the works that it is doing.”

She announced £10.3 million of UK grant support for the Rohingya and host communities affected by natural disasters in Bangladesh.

West also had a meeting with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and discussed various issues of mutual interest between the two nations, reports UNB.

The hour-long meeting, which began around 4:30pm, was held at the British High Commissioner’s residence in the capital’s Baridhara, said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke, BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and its Organising Secretary Shama Obed were present at the meeting, he said.