M Mushfiqul Fazal, State Department Correspondent
The US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday was asked in a regular press briefing whether the government of the United States intends to impose new sanction on those Bangladeshi citizens who are involved in corruption and money laundering.
Matthew Miller in response said, “We never preview sanctions actions before they take place.”He said, “Generally speaking, sanctions can be a tool to fight corruption. We have other tools as well, such as freezing assets and giving partner nations information so they can prosecute cases.”
The US state department spokesperson said these while replying to a query from State Department correspondent M Mushfiqul Fazal about reports on corruption and money laundering by S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam and other influential persons of the ruling Awami League in Bangladesh.
In the briefing, Mushfiqul Fazal asked, “Richard Nephew, the US State Department’s coordinator for global anticorruption, wrapped up his visit to Bangladesh where he engaged with top officials. While in Bangladesh, renowned English newspaper Daily Star unveiled a significant report. The report disclosed that Mohammed Saiful Alam, closely connected to the present Sheikh Hasina administration and the owner of S Alam Group, had illicitly moved more than $1 billion abroad and set up a business empire overseas. Statewatch.net and OCCRP have revealed similar reports on massive corruption and money laundering. During Richard Nephew’s meeting with Bangladeshi foreign secretary, he indicated that they might consider sanction as a tool against corruption. The question is, does the United States government intend to impose new sanctions, especially on those involved in corruption and money laundering?”
In response, Matthew Miller said, “As I said in response to a different question earlier about a different country, we never preview sanctions actions before they take place. Generally speaking, sanctions can be a tool to fight corruption. We have other tools as well, such as freezing assets and giving partner nations information so they can prosecute cases.”
In reply to the same question, Miller stated that they encourage Bangladesh to undertake fair and impartial measures to eradicate corruption.
Video Courtesy: Forbes
Richard Nephew during his Bangladesh visit in August 6-8 met with government officials, businesspersons, and civil society leaders to discuss how to fight the scourge of corruption.
On Monday, when asked if there was any discussion during meeting with Richard Nephew about sanctioning 11 Bangladeshi individuals for money laundering as reported by a local media outlet,
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said, “There was no discussion on any individual, but Nephew said sanction is a tool against corruption. They can also consider this (in future).”
NR/
