19/04/2026
We are deeply concerned that just within two months of forming the new government Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is facilitating the return of the corrupt fugitive oligarchs who carried out multiple bank lootings by orchestrating hostile takeovers with the help of government agencies during the fascist Hasina regime and, eventually, hollowing out those banks through a series of fraudulent shell-company loans and illegal money laundering in billions of dollars.
A controversial banking legislation, the Bank Resolution Act 2026, has been passed recently by the BNP-led parliament and has sparked significant domestic and international criticism. Critics, including Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), argue that it "rehabilitates identified looters" and fosters a culture of impunity. The new law allows former shareholders of weak or merged banks to regain ownership, significantly altering the Bank Resolution Ordinance 2025 from the previous interim government which specifically barred those responsible for a bank’s collapse from returning to ownership.
Based on reports from February 2026, the then Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan Habib Mansur did indeed issue warnings to the nation at a press conference regarding a "conspiracy" by a "vested quarter" aiming to sabotage the much needed and planned banking reforms and to potentially bring back the former owners (looters) of banks. He pointed to the S Alam Group and others for allegedly siphoning off billions of dollars and urged that "misuse and looting" should not be allowed to return. Surprisingly, later that day, the current BNP government replaced him with a new BNP-aligned governor without any prior notice. It was an unprecedented event in the history of Bangladesh Bank and was described as a “shock ouster”.
While the BNP government is intentionally blocking the much needed reform initiatives and facilitating the return of the fugitive bank looters and money launderers, many believe that the economic outlook of the country seems gloomier than ever before. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just suspended the next tranche of its loan program to Bangladesh due to insufficient progress on agreed economic reforms in the banking and revenue sectors. The lender is now pushing for a new, stricter arrangement rather than continuing the current, hindered program.
