{"id":4349,"date":"2025-10-30T04:07:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4349"},"modified":"2025-10-30T04:07:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:07:30","slug":"s-alam-goes-to-world-bank-court-against-yunus-smear-and-seizure-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4349","title":{"rendered":"S Alam goes to World Bank court against Yunus\u2019 smear-and-seizure campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bangladeshi business magnate Mohammed Saiful Alam, widely known as S Alam, has dragged Muhammad Yunus\u2019s interim government into an international arbitration battle<\/a> at the World Bank, accusing the regime of waging a vindictive smear-and-seizure campaign that has cost his family hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move, filed on Monday at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, lays bare a broader pattern of political revenge that has ensnared thousands of Awami League leaders, workers, supporters, and even ordinary beneficiaries of the ousted Sheikh Hasina era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for S Alam, founder of the sprawling S Alam Group<\/a> conglomerate, allege that Yunus\u2019s administration has orchestrated arbitrary asset freezes, baseless confiscations, and a state-coordinated media lynching designed to destroy reputations and livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claim invokes a 2004 Bangladesh-Singapore investment treaty, with the family\u2014now Singaporean citizens\u2014seeking protection under Bangladesh\u2019s 1980 foreign investment law. The arbitration marks a humiliating global rebuke to Yunus\u2019s narrative of \u201crecovering stolen billions,\u201d exposing it as a pretext for settling old scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case centres on the regime\u2019s December economic white paper, a document ridiculed by economists and journalists as fantastical for claiming $234 billion was looted under Hasina\u2019s 15-year rule. Central bank governor Ahsan H Mansur, Yunus\u2019s point man on asset recovery, has accused the S Alam family of diverting $12 billion from the banking system\u2014a charge the conglomerate dismisses as baseless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan detailed how the government froze family bank accounts, seized properties without evidence, and fueled an \u201cincendiary media campaign\u201d via regime-aligned outlets that branded the Alams as economic criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Plunder in MP Project: Corruption and deception under Yunus<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corruption, suspension of operation plans cripple Bangladesh health sector<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ex-secretary: 8 advisers of Yunus government engaged in massive corruption<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is no isolated vendetta. Since the August 2024 uprising that toppled Hasina, Yunus\u2019s government has unleashed a systematic purge against anyone tied to the Awami League. Fabricated corruption and murder cases\u2014built on coerced testimonies from the protest chaos\u2014have jailed former ministers, generals, and mid-level organisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grassroots party workers face midnight arrests, while ordinary supporters endure extortion, job losses, and social ostracism. Beneficiaries of Hasina-era initiatives, from digital stipends to export incentives, now face retroactive audits and punitive taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media assault is relentless. State-friendly television channels and newspapers run daily hit pieces, recycling unproven allegations to justify the crackdown. S Alam, whose empire in food, construction, garments, and banking employed tens of thousands and thrived under Hasina\u2019s industrialisation push, has been painted as public enemy number one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regime\u2019s silence in response to the Financial Times\u2014neither Yunus\u2019s office nor Mansur offered substantive comment\u2014speaks volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheikh Hasina condemns corruption as Grameen Telecom gets digital wallet license<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Press secretary\u2019s brother, a joint secretary, made Narayanganj city administrator<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Yunus and \u2018Grameen\u2019 are benefitting from his position as the \u2018Chief Adviser\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arbitration claim follows ignored warnings issued in December, when S Alam\u2019s lawyers gave the government six months to resolve the dispute. Instead, the freeze-and-smear tactics escalated. The family argues that no evidence has ever been produced to substantiate the looting claims, yet the damage is done: investor confidence is evaporating, and Bangladesh\u2019s reputation as a stable emerging market lies in tatters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts see the purge as a desperate bid to legitimise Yunus\u2019s unelected rule ahead of long-delayed elections. By demonising the Awami era, the regime distracts from its own failures\u2014soaring inflation, garment sector collapse, and capital flight. The revival of China\u2019s $1 billion Teesta River project is touted as progress, but it cannot mask the rot within: a government drunk on retribution, weaponising institutions to crush opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the World Bank tribunal looms, the stakes extend far beyond one tycoon. Foreign investors are reassessing risks, diplomatic allies are distancing themselves, and the promise of \u201cfree and fair\u201d polls rings hollow with the Awami League systematically dismantled. Yunus\u2019s revolution, sold as justice, stands exposed as a settling of scores\u2014one that Bangladesh\u2019s fragile democracy and economy may not survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bangladeshi business magnate Mohammed Saiful Alam, widely known as S Alam, has dragged Muhammad Yunus\u2019s interim government into an international arbitration battle at the World Bank, accusing the regime of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,84,20,42],"tags":[163,202,130,50,1052,65,1053,488,56,1055,1054,916,64],"class_list":["post-4349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-fact-check","category-news","category-politics","tag-anti-corruption-commission-acc","tag-bangladesh-bank","tag-corruption","tag-interim-government","tag-international-centre-for-settlement-of-investment-disputes-icsid","tag-mobocracy","tag-mohammed-saiful-alam","tag-money-laundering","tag-muhammad-yunus","tag-revenge","tag-s-alam","tag-world-bank","tag-yunus-gang"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4351,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions\/4351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}