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The UN is moving its agencies in Dhaka to a building complex owned by one of the families accused by the interim government of Bangladesh of the illegal of dollars from the country in Leiden, the Financial Times has learned.
The ordinary building of the UN, which will soon be UN agencies in the Bangladeshi capital, is owned by the Bashundhara Group, a real estate and industrial group controlled by the Sobhan family.
The Sobhans are one of the families in the sights of the interim government of Muhammad Yunus, because it tries to reclaim billions of dollars that he believes was darkened under Sheikh Hasina, the authoritarian leader who was deposited in mass protests last year.
The anti-corruption committee of Bangladesh investigates accusations of inexplicable wealth, including overseas assets, against Bashundhara chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and some of his family members, the government agency told the FT.
The FT reported last month that members of the Sobhan family had purchased at least $ 65 million in property in the UK and acquired a total of 26 assets.
Bashundhara, founded in the 1980s by Sobhan, has grown into a dominant power in the economy of Bangladesh, with interests that overstrain real estate, cement, paper, steel and shipping. But its expansion has sometimes attracted accusations of land robbery and financial misconduct.
In September, the Criminal Investigation department of Bangladesh also called the company, Sobhan and Sayem Sobhan Anvir, director of Bashundhara, as subjects of an investigation into money laundering.
De Sobhans did not respond to a request for comments made via Bashundhara.
The Coordinator of the UN Entry in Dhaka told the FT that the world organ “was very aware of the allegations against Bashundhara, Sobhan and his family members.
According to the UN, the decision to move to the complex was made in the Luxury District Gulshan of Dhaka last year, before the wave of students led by students that ended the 15-year-old rule of Sheikh Hasina in August.
“All preparations and decision-making with regard to the UN ordinary buildings in Bangladesh have been carried out in accordance with the rules and regulations of the UN and Best Practices in the field of diligence, and a rigorous due diligence process was carried out,” said the UN, adding that it was not to give a commentary “.
A UN report last month showed that government safety and intelligence services were “systematically involved in a series of serious human rights violations” in a performance against last year’s protests that more than 1,400 people killed.
“We hope that the UN will reconsider its decision,” Asif Nazrul, the adviser of the Yunus government about justice, told the FT.
UN employees in Dhaka said that the move was part of a broader worldwide cost-saving initiative that is aimed at consolidating agencies in the city under one roof for the first time.
However, the decision can intensify the control of the financial transactions of the UN and ethical considerations, in particular because the interim authorities of Bangladesh make efforts to reclaim assets related to the elite of the country, experts said.
A report on Bangladesh’s economy commissioned by the interim government in December estimated that the country lost $ 16 billion annually to money laundering during the rule of Sheikh Hasina from 2009 to 2024.
Yunus has described the alleged looting by Elites as “highway robbery” and insisted that the money must “be brought back”.
“Bangladesh has to recover the billions under the previous regime to guarantee macro-economic stability and growth in the long term,” said Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economy at Yale University who worked for the World Bank and IMF.
“International partners, including the UN, play an important role in facilitating this.”