(Reuters) -Bangladesh’s central bank has hired three “Big Four” search firms – EY, Deloitte and KPMG – to audit banks that leaked details of businessmen close to former leader Sheikh Hasina’s regime, the Financial Times reported on Sunday Sunday, the Financial Times, citing bank governor Ahsan Mansur.
In an interview with the newspaper, Mansur said the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has also formed 11 joint investigation teams to trace and recover assets it believes were purchased with the funds withdrawn from banks and to prosecute those responsible.
EY and Deloitte did not respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. Efforts to contact KPMG for comment through its website were unsuccessful.
Mansur, who was appointed to the central bank by interim national leader Muhammad Yunus after Sheikh Hasina fled to India in August, said the investigation would look at 10 leading companies in Bangladesh as well as the former leader and their relatives.
Mansur, a former economist at the International Monetary Fund, is tasked with stabilizing Bangladesh’s economy. He is also beginning the process of recovering what he estimates was at least 2 trillion taka ($16.46 billion) in the 15 years when Hasina and her Awami League party were in power, the said FT.
($1 = 121.5000)