A huge amount of money has been smuggled from Bangladesh in the last sixteen years through various tricks. The main people were government ministers, MPs, senior administration and police officials, ruling party leaders, and big businessmen. In Britain, this money is brought into various systems and invested in many fields using the names of people trusted by the traffickers and not very well known to the community here. 

Some of the Awami League leaders organised locally in London help to smuggle this money. They helped bring the money from Bangladesh to Britain through different means and bought houses and commercial property under different names. They bought a house, converted it to rented accommodation like AirBnB, and arranged to rent them out. 

The Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that some of Salman F. Rahman's investments in Britain were managed by an MBE holder who travelled to London Bangladesh business class almost weekly. Several former senior police officers have been accused of being involved in money laundering. These huge amounts of smuggled money are invested in different investment funds and properties in the UK and also in different countries of Europe. 

The family members of two former ministers of Moulvibazar district are rumoured to own several properties in Britain. But after investigating by Daily Dazzling Dawn, it has been found that there are no more than one and two houses registered in Britain in the name of the children and family members of the two ex-ministers. 

It is known that traffickers have been investing their money in the names of people they trust and don't know in the community so that they don't get caught.

A family member of a recent ex-Member of Parliament from Sylhet district, several money transfer and travel business communities are known to be involved in money laundering. Behind the money transfer and travel business signboards, they used to deal hundi. The son of a former state minister who is under arrest in Bangladesh became the owner of several properties during the Awam League period. The corrupt people of Bangladesh buy houses in the name of trusted people who live in distant cities such as Manchester Oldham and are not involved in politics.

On the condition of anonymity, a businessman said a big place of Bangladeshi hundi business outside Bangladesh is Whitechapel in East London. Here, behind the various businesses, the business of Hundi is going on. Some money is laundered, which is called table transfer in the parlance of launderers. They used to send huge amounts of money to certain agents in many parts of the country in sacks. Later, when the money was counted, the money was paid here according to the price of the pound.They used specific branches of some specific banks in the field of transactions for small amounts. Those branch managers knew what the money was for. They would give the opportunity. Traffickers set up fake companies and business bank accounts that were opened in the name of those companies, and the money was deposited part by part in the bank accounts. In some areas, money has been laundered in the name of these companies.

Saidul Islam, general secretary of the UK-Bangla Press Club and UK correspondent of Daily Prothom Alo, told the Daily Dazzling Dawn that ex-minister MPs of Bangladesh did not buy any houses in Britain in the name of themselves or their wives and children. They buy in the names of people they trust. Some people, including Nazrul Islam Mazumdar, opened a company and bought the property in the name of that company and then took off his own name from that company, the proof of which is in our hands. One class of money transfer business has assisted smugglers by diverting remittances sent by expatriates to the country. He commented that it is possible to find out all the information about the money being smuggled if the government takes internal initiative.

When asked whether anyone from the Awami League was involved in money laundering from Bangladesh to Britain, General Secretary of the United Kingdom Awami League, Syed Sajidur Rahman, did not want to make any comment.

Commenting on this matter, Principal Barrister of London Chancery Solicitors, Md. Iqbal Hossain, said the government can make the trafficking suspects appear in the Truth Commission. The Bangladesh government can identify the smugglers with the help of the British government if they want. According to my knowledge, several ministers, MPs, and administration secretary-level employees of the previous government have bought assets in the name of others in the UK. There is also a case where a former minister of North Bengal bought property in Scotland in the name of someone from Syria.

Notably, some of the money was kept in offshore accounts in Switzerland, the UK, the US, Canada, the UAE, Southeast Asian nations, including Singapore, and East European nations. Money laundering and trade misinvoicing were two of the most common methods of money smuggling. Additionally, some of the money was used to purchase real estate in the UK, Canada, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. High-ranking officials of Bangladesh Bank acknowledged that political pressure compelled them to flout rules. Corrupt individuals, such as former police head Benazir Ahmed, were able to accumulate illicit income because of a culture of impunity and lack of accountability.

It should be noted that last year, the name of Bangladesh came up in 9th place in the list of top 10 countries that invest in property in Showhouse London, a magazine about the UK's housebuilding industry. It is said there that Bangladeshis have bought 98 houses among foreign buyers in the expensive area of Central London.

It's time to return money that was stolen-

As the government of Sheikh Hasina has ended, the hush-hush policy has been lifted, allowing the full scope of our economic problems to become apparent. In the latter 15 years of her government, almost $150 billion, or Tk 17.6 lakh crore, was syphoned out of the nation.