BB chief says tycoons linked to Hasina siphoned $17 billion from banks with DGFI's help

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has accused high-profile business tycoons associated with the former Sheikh Hasina administration of collaborating with the nation’s military intelligence agency to funnel $17 billion out of the banking sector during her tenure. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Monday, Mansur—who took over leadership at Bangladesh Bank after Sheikh Hasina fled the country in August—asserted that the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) played a pivotal role in forced acquisitions of major banks. Mansur stated that around Tk 200,000 crore ($16.7 billion) was allegedly funneled out of Bangladesh through mechanisms such as self-lending to newly appointed bank shareholders and inflated import invoices. “This is the largest and most significant bank robbery by international standards,” Mansur told the British publication. “It’s unprecedented globally and was state-sponsored. This scale of looting couldn’t have happened without intelligence officials coercing former bank CEOs.”