Dhaka, Oct 28 (V7N)- Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Ahsan H Mansur has accused powerful tycoons tied to Sheikh Hasina's previous administration of siphoning off $17 billion from the country's banking sector, allegedly with assistance from military intelligence officials. In an interview with the Financial Times, Governor Mansur claimed that the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) supported forced takeovers of major banks, resulting in substantial financial losses.

Mansur estimates that around Tk 2 lakh crore (equivalent to $16.7 billion) was moved out of Bangladesh through questionable loans issued to newly installed bank shareholders and inflated import invoices. "This is one of the largest bank heists by global standards," Mansur said, highlighting the scale and alleged state-sponsored nature of the operation. "Such actions would have required intelligence agents to apply pressure on former bank executives," he added.

The governor named S Alam Group's founder, Mohammed Saiful Alam, accusing him and his affiliates of "siphoning off" at least $10 billion from the banking system after securing control of banks with DGFI's assistance. "Daily loans were issued for their benefit," Mansur noted.

Through a statement by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the S Alam Group responded, dismissing the allegations as unfounded. "The interim government’s targeted actions against the S Alam Group and other prominent businesses in Bangladesh have ignored basic due process, eroding investor confidence and worsening the state of law and order," the statement read.

The Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, which handles media responses for Bangladesh's armed forces, and DGFI did not respond to requests for comment, according to the Financial Times.

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