Until mid-2010 I was not aware that the immediate past prime minister had a special assistant for stolen asset recovery. Though at the very outset, his terms of reference were not clear, he was somehow successful in recovering some assets from Singapore after a lengthy legal process, where the siphoned asset could be detected and proved in the court of law that it belonged to the country's poor people. Singapore is known to be a safe haven for global wealth based on strict customer confidentiality maintenance, and hence without the help from the court nothing could be done.

According to various reports, close to $150 billion was siphoned off Bangladesh during last 15 years. There are a number of international laws and conventions that can be used to claim laundered money. These agreements provide a framework for cooperation between countries in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Chapter V of the UN Convention against Corruption provides a framework for the return of stolen assets, requiring state parties to take measures to restrain, seize, confiscate, and return the proceeds of corruption.

Bangladesh can seek assistance of the UN, World Bank and Interpol. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank have a joint Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to support international efforts to end siphoning of assets. Since its establishment in 2007, StAR has assisted over 35 countries in drafting legal frameworks, setting up the institutional structure, and building the skills necessary to trace and return stolen assets.

Interpol assists countries to recover and return assets obtained corruptly, they work closely with a number of national, regional and international bodies such as the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, which brings together specialist law enforcement officers from multiple agencies around the world to tackle allegations of corruption and help bring the corrupt to justice.

The recovery and return of criminal assets comprise a complex process. It depends on the type of corruption, how the recovery effort is initiated and by whom. It also depends on whether a criminal conviction exists in the state of origin, whether criminal or civil process is used or both; as well as which legal mechanisms to restrain assets are available in the destination state. Whether the state harmed by corruption has requested a return of their stolen assets is extremely important. However, the most critical factor is political will.

Bangladesh itself has the Money Laundering Prevention Act, which criminalises laundering and authorises the confiscation of laundered assets, and it also signed mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) with other countries. Sadly, Bangladesh has never effectively used any of the tools. It is yet to sign MLATs with popular money laundering destinations – Australia, Canada, Cyprus and Switzerland.

Now there is an opportunity for the country to recover its stolen asset. Professor Yunus must use his international standing and goodwill to request the United Nations, Interpol and destination countries to assist Bangladesh in this regard.

Apart from initiating MLATS with missing popular destinations, we should become a party to the OECD's Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and "Common Reporting Standard". This will allow us to obtain the bank accounts and other financial information of Bangladeshis living in the signatory countries.

The writer is the chairman of Financial Excellence Ltd