Mohammed Saiful Alam and others v. People's Republic of Bangladesh

At a glance

Parties

Mohammed Saiful Alam and others v. People's Republic of Bangladesh

Case no.

ICSID Case No. ARB/25/52

Forum and rules

ICSID Convention arbitration; ICSID Arbitration Rules in force as of 1 July 2022; place of proceeding Washington, D.C.

Treaty

Singapore–Bangladesh BIT (2004), according to the case record

Tribunal

Dr. Laurent Lévy (President), Dr. Stanimir A. Alexandrov, Mr. J. Christopher Thomas KC

Sector

Other industry; ownership in various industries (case record)

Outcome

Pending. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1 (25 June 2026). The procedural calendar will be set after the Tribunal resolves the Respondent's application under ICSID Arbitration Rule 41.

Amount

No amounts claimed are stated. Advance on costs: USD 400,000, paid USD 200,000 by each side.

The dispute

Mohammed Saiful Alam and other claimants brought an ICSID arbitration against Bangladesh. The case record describes the subject of the dispute as ownership in various industries and lists the Singapore–Bangladesh BIT of 2004 as the instrument invoked. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1. It does not describe the facts, the claims or the defences. It records that the Respondent has made an application under ICSID Arbitration Rule 41, which the Tribunal will resolve before a procedural calendar is set.

Key holdings

1. The proceeding is governed by the ICSID Arbitration Rules in force as of 1 July 2022. The Tribunal was constituted on 24 April 2026, and the Parties confirmed that they had no objection to any member. PO1 §§ 1.1, 2.1
2. The arbitration will follow a procedural calendar to be set only if the proceedings continue after the Tribunal has resolved the Respondent's application under ICSID Arbitration Rule 41. PO1 § 15.1
3. Washington, D.C. is the place of the proceeding and English the procedural language. Filing days fall to the next business day if the date is a weekend or a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Singapore or Bangladesh. Parties must use best efforts to make Bengali (Bangla) documents text-searchable. PO1 §§ 11.1, 12.1, 14.4, 14.8
4. With the Parties' consent, Dr. Magnus Jesko Langer of the President's firm was appointed Assistant to the Tribunal. He is paid USD 300 per hour, plus lodging and travel expenses of up to USD 900 per day. PO1 §§ 8.1–8.3
5. Document production will be guided, but not bound, by the 2020 IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence and will use Redfern Schedules. The Tribunal may draw inferences from a failure to produce ordered documents. PO1 §§ 16.1–16.12
6. The Tribunal may use AI tools for tasks such as summaries and searching the record, but will not delegate decision-making to them. PO1 § 28.1

Procedural history

1. 26 November 2025Following registration of the Request for Arbitration, ICSID requests an advance of USD 200,000 from the Claimants. The Claimants pay it on 3 December 2025.
2. 20 January 2026Dr. Stanimir A. Alexandrov accepts his appointment as arbitrator.
3. 25 February 2026Mr. J. Christopher Thomas KC accepts his appointment as arbitrator.
4. 24 April 2026Dr. Laurent Lévy accepts his appointment as President, and the Tribunal is constituted.
5. 28 April 2026ICSID requests USD 200,000 from the Respondent. The Respondent pays it on 26 May 2026.
6. 22 June 2026First session of the Tribunal held by video conference.
7. 25 June 2026Procedural Order No. 1 issued.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Laurent Lévy President
• Stanimir A. Alexandrov Co-arbitrator
• J. Christopher Thomas Co-arbitrator

For the claimant

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP · Belal Ahmed · Patrick Forbes · Subrata Bhowmik

For the respondent

White & Case LLP · Attorney General's Office · Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs · Bangladesh Bank

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Keywords

• Singapore–Bangladesh BIT
• Bangladesh
• ICSID Arbitration Rules 2022
• Rule 41
• procedural order
• first session
• tribunal assistant
• document production
• Redfern Schedule
• IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence
• artificial intelligence
• Bengali documents
• Bangladesh Bank
• Saiful Alam

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.