The government on has appointed a British law firm to contest an international arbitration case filed by S Alam Group founder Saiful Alam and his family before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Sources familiar with the decision said that the cabinet committee government procurement on Tuesday approved the appointment of White and Case LLP, a UK-based international law firm, to represent Bangladesh in ICSID arbitration case ARB/25/52. The firm will be paid a fee of $1,250 per hour for its legal services.
The proposal to hire an international law firm was placed before the committee by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, citing the complexity and high financial stakes of the case.
Talking to journalists after the meeting, finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said the arbitration was linked to allegations of money laundering.
‘S Alam has apparently filed a case in London and challenged Bangladesh at the World Bank’s ICSID, he said.
‘We need to engage an international legal firm to fight this case, as it involves a huge amount of money and has been brought before an organisation like the World Bank,’ said Salehuddin.
When asked about the identity of the firm, the adviser said that it was a British firm but did not name it at the time.
Salehuddin also said that legal action was underway against S Alam on money laundering charges.
He said, ‘When a government or a company is accused of obstructing business, ICSID arbitration is invoked. We have received the arbitration notice and must respond. This is a highly complicated legal process.’
In October 2025, lawyers representing S Alam and his family formally filed the arbitration request at ICSID in Washington, alleging that asset freezes, confiscations and punitive measures taken by the Bangladesh government on money laundering charges caused them losses worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
In their filing, the S Alam family claimed that the interim government deliberately targeted them through bank account freezes, asset seizures, ‘baseless investigations’ into their businesses and a ‘provocative media campaign,’ arguing that such actions violate international investment protection obligations.
The arbitration has been filed under the 2004 Bangladesh-Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty. Documents show that members of the S Alam family renounced Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020 and obtained Singaporean citizenship between 2021 and 2023. They are currently residing in Singapore.
As Singapore nationals, they claim entitlement to international investment protection under the BIT, as well as protection under Bangladesh’s Foreign Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act 1980.
Following the August 5, 2024 mass uprising that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, an interim administration headed by Professor Muhammad Yunus initiated investigations and asset recovery efforts against major business groups and influential individuals accused of large-scale money laundering.
An economic white paper published by the interim government in December 2024 estimated total illicit capital flight at around $234 billion.
Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H. Mansur, who heads the asset recovery task force, alleged that the S Alam family alone siphoned off nearly $12 billion abroad.
He accused S Alam and his associates of taking control of multiple banks with the help of military intelligence and transferring funds overseas through loan and import fraud, forcing the government to bail out six banks.
S Alam Group has denied all allegations, saying the government has failed to present any credible evidence to support the claims.
