ICIJ 2013 leak database

There are some misleading reports in the Bangladesh media (like this one) that suggest that Bangladeshis have been named in 'The Panama papers'

As of now, that is not the case. 

The only names of Bangladeshi politicians and businessman linked to offshore companies that have been released by the ICIJ consortium relate to an earlier 2013 leak of information involving the British Virgin Islands. 

You can read about the details that were published about Bangladeshis in 2013 here

However, ICIJ have created a public database of some of that 2013 leaked information which also can be accessed here.

Just search for Bangladesh, and you will get quite a lot of information, though no corroborative documents.

It should be emphasised that none of the information in this database relates to the Panama Papers - only to the 2013 leak. It is not new.

Top AL family set up offshore company network

One of the big international news stories right now is the leak of information concerning the establishment of off-shore companies by politicians and businessmen around the world involving the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

Just over two years ago, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists were also involved in another leak of information about offshore companies in the British virgin islands.


Whilst the connections of Bangladeshi politicians and businessmen to the offshore companies identified from the most recent leak of the Panama law firm papers are not yet known, here are the stories published just over two years ago in The New Age about the offshore companies set up by Bangladesh politicians and businessmen in the British virgin islands

Below is the main  article, first published in New Age on 12 July 2013 concerning a network of off-shore accounts set up Kazi Zafrullah - a member of the Awami League's 12 member presidium and also relative of the prime minister by marriage.

Bangladeshi businessmen's link to offshore companies revealed

This article was originally published on 14 July 2013 in The New Age, and is part of a series on offshore companies set up by Bangladeshi businessmen and politicians. (The original link is not working)

To see the main page concerning offshore companies, click here
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Local businessmen’s link to offshore companies revealed 

David Bergman 

The directors of some of Bangladesh’s biggest business conglomerates, including Summit, Square, and the United group, own or have owned offshore companies in the secretive tax haven of the British Virgin Islands, New Age can reveal.
Information about their offshore company ownership is contained amongst the 2.5 million electronic files which were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – and which have been shared with New Age.
The files contain information from the databases of two offshore company service firms including Singapore-based Portcullis TrustNet which was the firm that these businessman paid to set up their companies.
From the ICIJ files, New Age has identified a total of over 20 Bangladeshi business people who have owned an offshore company, though there may be many more who have registered using a non-Bangladesh address or who set up offshore companies using different service agencies.

Legality of offshore companies, bank accounts

This article was originally published on 12 July 2013 in The New Age, and is part of a series on offshore companies set up by Bangladeshi businessmen and politicians in the British Virgin Islands (The link to the article on the New Age website is not working)

To see the main page on offshore companies, click here

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Legality of offshore companies, bank accounts

David Bergman

The legal foundation for the rules relating to how Bangladesh residents can remove money from the country for personal or business use is set out in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947.
Section 5 of the Act sets out a blanket restriction on residents from making payments to people resident outside Bangladesh – though the same section allows Bangladesh Bank to make both ‘general or special’ exemptions to this rule.