FT Film (2025) ¦ Bangladesh’s missing billions, stolen in plain sight

A cashed-out nation: How alleged kleptocracy moved wealth abroad and left a country hollowed

The Financial Times Film documentary “Bangladesh’s missing billions, stolen in plain sight” pieces together a story of large-scale looting, institutional capture and the global pathways that carried assets from Dhaka to London. Between 2009 and 2023, critics say, political capture allowed cronies to seize control of banks, divert loans into shell companies and use informal transfer systems and over- and under-invoicing to send vast sums abroad. The interim government that followed Sheikh Hasina’s fall estimates the outflow at many billions a year; some individual conglomerates are accused of laundering amounts that, together, reach into the tens or even hundreds of billions over time.

Authoritarian concentration of power and the social cost

Interviewees describe a regime in which power was highly centralised and dissent was dangerous. Student-led uprisings left visible traces across Dhaka even after the regime’s collapse; survivors and organisers recount violent suppression, disappearances and killings. Those who tried to act as watchdogs — journalists, activists, former officials — were pressured or silenced. The assault on civil institutions went hand in hand with looting: state influence over intelligence agencies and banks enabled takeovers of financial institutions, the replacement of boards by pliant managers, and a flood of non-performing loans tied to politically connected groups.

Mechanisms of illicit outflows

The film outlines several channels used to move money overseas. Over- and under-invoicing on trade and the use of hundi (hawala-like informal transfer networks) let actors bypass capital controls that formally limited how much an individual could take out of the country. Bank capture allowed large fraudulent loans to be issued to opaque entities, then settled through informal networks or converted into overseas purchases — most visibly, real estate in the United Kingdom. The UK’s deep financial and property markets, its historical ties with Bangladesh and a sizeable expatriate community made Britain a natural destination for investments and, critics argue, for illicitly sourced capital.

Bastian Schwind-Wagner_Follow "The film documents how state capture and organised looting under a concentrated regime allegedly channelled vast sums out of Bangladesh into global markets, especially UK property, and highlights the extraordinary technical and political challenges of tracing and recovering those assets. Recovering wealth and rebuilding institutions will require sustained international cooperation and internal reforms that reduce the ability of politically connected actors to control banks and public contracts."

The UK connection and high-value targets

The Financial Times investigation links hundreds of UK properties to figures tied to the former regime; the National Crime Agency has identified and frozen several hundred properties as part of one of the largest and most complex asset-recovery efforts in recent history. High-profile cases touched political figures with family connections in Britain, raising questions about how money, influence and political ties intersect across borders. The film shows how wealth extracted at home translated into prime London real estate and other assets that are difficult to disentangle from legitimate investment flows.

A fragile, contested recovery

When Sheikh Hasina fled and an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge, urgent steps were taken: central bank interventions, board replacements at banks, and the creation of an asset-recovery task force. Yet task force members stress that recovering stolen assets is extremely difficult. Evidence gathering, international legal cooperation and the high bar for criminal conviction make prosecutions slow and uncertain; negotiations and settlements are often the pragmatic route to reclaim funds. Experts warn that the very scale of the plunder means perpetrators had the resources to hire international legal and financial advisers, making asset tracing and recovery more complex.

Institutional reform versus political timeline

The interim government faces a dilemma: how much reform to complete before handing power back through elections. Rapid elections risk returning a political system still vulnerable to capture; delaying elections too long raises questions of legitimacy. Reformers argue that strengthening banks, prosecuting corruption, and creating durable checks on security agencies are prerequisites for lasting change. Yet even successful recoveries may only be partial if underlying political influence from wealthy conglomerates survives transitions and continues to shape institutions.

Human cost and the long shadow

Beyond the bank figures and international investigations, the documentary foregrounds personal testimony: students who faced bullets and disappearances, civil society leaders whose homes were attacked, bankers forced to resign under threat. The public visibility of corruption — press reports, open discussion, and still-visible protest art — contrasts with a pervasive fear that silenced many. The interim government’s stated aim is to return stolen wealth and repair institutions, but activists and experts caution that the work will be slow and incomplete unless the next political settlement decisively limits the power of the patronage networks that enabled the theft.