Former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury was a travel enthusiast. During his tenure as minister, he traveled to 17 countries a total of 54 times. During each trip, he opened a bank account and laundered money, with the largest amounts going to the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Singapore.
Sources from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have confirmed this information. The ACC has found 581 flats/houses and eight businesses belonging to him in various countries. According to documents, the value of the properties is Tk 3,840 crore, and the businesses are valued at Tk 2,423 crore, bringing the total laundered amount to Tk 6,263 crore.
The commission has now initiated efforts to recover the laundered assets. According to an ACC source, a Mutual Legal Assistance Request (MLAR) has already been sent to the UK, the US, and Dubai, with plans to send one to Singapore soon.
Regarding this matter, ACC Chairman Dr. Mohammad Abdul Momen recently stated that the ACC is working with the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to recover the laundered money. The ACC has provided the NCA with a list of individuals who have laundered money from Bangladesh, and efforts to recover the funds in London have begun. He said, "With the help of the NCA, we have been able to seize many properties of former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury in the UK. He also has many properties in Bangladesh, and a team is working on that as well. We hope to achieve success there."
A senior ACC official, who chose to remain anonymous, told Kaler Kantho that the commission has already filed five cases against the Saifuzzaman syndicate, accusing them of embezzling 103 crore taka. Additionally, the ACC is preparing to file more cases against him for loan fraud and money laundering.
Travel and money laundering
From 2014 to late 2023, Saifuzzaman and his family's passports show they made 54 trips to 17 countries. Of these, 3 were official and 51 were personal. He spent a vast amount of money on his personal trips. His official trips were to the UK, Northern Ireland, and South Korea, and some of his travel companions were individuals who are now accused in ACC money laundering cases.
He and his family, including his wife Rukhmila Zaman, also made personal trips to Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Italy, the UAE, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, Cambodia, France, and Iceland. He traveled most frequently to the UK with his wife, where he laundered the largest amount of assets.
Laundering details by country
The ACC has found 581 flats/houses and eight businesses belonging to Saifuzzaman in various countries, including the UK, the US, and Dubai. The total value of these assets is Tk 6,263 crore. The largest portion was laundered in the UK, where he has 343 flats/houses and businesses. He also has 228 flats/houses and two businesses in the UAE, nine flats/houses in the US, and one flat/house and four businesses in Singapore. The ACC is in the process of sending more MLARs to confirm additional laundering information in other countries.
Asset seizures and travel restriction
The ACC has filed five cases against former Land Minister Saifuzzaman and his wife Rukhmila Zaman, accusing them of embezzling a total of Tk 103 crore. These cases were filed on July 30, July 24, April 17, and August 7 of last year. In each case, they are accused of using shell companies with employees as owners to secure and embezzle loans and then launder the money. The case complaints state that he committed this loan fraud through abuse of power and collusion with bank officials. The cases were filed under various sections of the Penal Code, the Anti-Corruption Act, and the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
On 7 October, based on an ACC application, a court prohibited Saifuzzaman and his wife from leaving the country. On 17 October, the court ordered the seizure of 580 properties/apartments/land in their names, both at home and abroad. This includes 343 properties in the UK, 228 in the UAE, and 9 in the US. The court also ordered the freezing of accounts in two banks in the UAE and one bank in Bangladesh. Furthermore, on 5 March, the court ordered the freezing of 39 of his bank accounts, which contained 5 crore 26 lakh 83 thousand 85 taka. After the fall of the Awami League government, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) also instructed the freezing of all bank accounts belonging to Saifuzzaman and his wife.
Saifuzzaman was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Chittagong-12 constituency in a 2013 by-election. In 2014, he was elected from the Chittagong-13 constituency and served as the State Minister of the Ministry of Land from 12 January, 2014, to 7 January, 2019. After being elected again in the 2018 general election, he became the Minister of Land on 7 January, 2019. He was re-elected as an MP from the Chittagong-13 constituency in the 2024 general election.
Courtesy: Daily Sun.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
