S Alam threatens to sue over ‘campaign of intimidation’

Mohammed Saiful Alam, the founder and chairman of industrial conglomerate S Alam Group, has claimed that his Singaporean citizenship and international investment treaty protect him from what he describes as a “campaign of intimidation” by the head of a Bangladeshi bank aimed at his conglomerate, the British newspaper reported. Financial. The Times reported Tuesday.

In a letter sent by their lawyers, Saiful Alam and his family members have warned Governor Dr Ahsan Mansoor that they may initiate international arbitration proceedings against Bangladesh.

The letter from law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan follows Mansoor’s claims in an interview with the Financial Times that Saiful Alam and his associates “extorted” at least Tk 1.2 trillion ($10 billion) from Bangladeshi banks during the regime that ousted the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A copy of the letter seen by the British daily accuses Mansoor of making “inflammatory and unsubstantiated public comments” that amount to a “campaign of intimidation” against the business group, which employs about 200,000 people, both directly and indirectly, in Bangladesh.

Saiful Alam’s letter and threat of international arbitration mark his most serious opposition yet to Bangladesh’s interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, which came to power after a student-led protest movement toppled Sheikh Hasina.

Mansoor, a former IMF official who was appointed governor of the Bank of Bangladesh in August, told the FT in October that Saiful Alam and his associates siphoned money out of the banking system after seizing top banks with the help of members of the powerful military intelligence agency. .

Mansoor alleged that Saiful Alam, his associates and other groups used methods such as loans to new bank shareholders and inflated import bills to carry out “the biggest, highest bank robbery by any international standards”.

The group is one of several business groups the Yunus government is trying to recover money it says was siphoned from the banking system.

The S Alam Group, which has interests in sectors such as food, construction, apparel and banking, rejected Mansoor’s allegations last month, saying in a statement through Quinn Emanuel that there was “no truth” in them.

A letter to Mansoor, sent on behalf of Saiful Alam, his wife Farzana Parveen and his sons Ashraful Alam and Asadul Alam Mahir, who are said to jointly own and control the “major part” of the S Alam group, described the allegations as “deliberately false”. and slanderous.”

“Your statements only further the objectives of an apparent campaign to destroy the S Alam Group and therefore the investors’ investments,” it said. “It’s remarkable that you seem to be running this campaign, if not organizing it.”

The letter said all four investors were Singaporean citizens. A spokesman for Quinn Emanuel did not respond to requests for comment on when the Alam family acquired Singaporean citizenship and whether they remained Bangladeshi citizens. The Singapore government did not respond to a request for comment.

Bangladesh and Singapore have a bilateral investment protection treaty since 2004.

According to the agreement, the letter said that Mansoor’s statements as central bank governor “relate to the state of Bangladesh.” It said that as Singaporean citizens, the investors also enjoy the “rights and protections” provided by Bangladesh’s Foreign Private Investment Act 1980.

The investors’ letter said they would “take all necessary steps to protect their rights, including but not limited to” arbitration by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Mansoor told the FT that the statements he made in the interview were “fully justified” when asked to respond to the letter. “They are still being documented as a number of corrupt practices have been widespread in many banks over the years,” he added. “Full documentation will take some time.”

The threat of arbitration is the latest in a series of challenges facing Yunus’ caretaker government, which is grappling with political unrest, order cancellations in the country’s key garment sector and hostility in India to what many in New Delhi see as a US-backed regime. change.

The letter said investors would prefer to avoid costly and lengthy litigation and remained committed to resolving any disputes “amicably and in accordance with the law.”

But he warned the central bank governor that if he continued to “encroach on their rights” by making “false statements” they and the S Alam group would “have no choice but to file legal action” against him separately for “the damages you inflicted”. .