A Supreme Court lawyer has lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), seeking legal action against the two sons of controversial businessman Mohammad Saiful Alam, chairman of S Alam Group, on allegations of illegally whitening money.
On Wednesday, lawyer Md Sultan Mahmud accused Saiful鈥檚 sons, Ashraful Alam and Asadul Alam Mahir, of evading taxes on Tk聽500 crore of undisclosed income.
According to the complaint, the two siblings paid only Tk 50 crore in taxes instead of the Tk聽125 crore owed, violating both tax laws and submission deadlines.
The complaint also implicated Syed Abu Md Daud, a member of the National Board of Revenue and former tax commissioner for Tax Circle 1 in Chattogram.
Daud is accused of accepting substantial bribes to facilitate the unlawful tax arrangements for the siblings.
Sultan urged the ACC to investigate and prosecute the individuals involved, highlighting concerns over large-scale tax evasion and corruption.
Earlier, the High Court on Sunday directed the Anti-Corruption Commission chairman to submit a progress report on the investigation into money laundering allegations against S Alam Group chairman Mohammad Saiful Alam and his wife Farzana Parveen.
A vacation bench of Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque issued the order during a hearing on a writ petition filed in the previous week by lawyer Md Rukunuzzaman.
Rukunuzzaman prayed for an inquiry into the offshore investments amounting to Tk 11,000 crore, allegedly made by Saiful Alam, his wife, and other shareholders of the S Alam Group.
The court instructed the anti-corruption commission鈥檚 lawyer Shaheen Ahmed to convey the directive, setting the next hearing for September 29.
On August 20, the anti-corruption commission formed a three-member inquiry team, led by its Money Laundering Wing deputy director Md Nur-e-Alam, to probe the allegations of laundering money to Singapore.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, on August 26, sought bank account details of 13 individuals, including seven brothers of S Alam Group鈥檚 chairman, in a letter to all banks.
On August 30, the Criminal Investigation Department announced that it had launched a probe into Saiful Alam, his wife, and their two sons. They are accused of laundering Tk聽1,13,245 crore through fraudulence, including over-invoicing, under-invoicing, and using informal money transfer systems like hundi.
The CID鈥檚 Financial Crime Unit primarily found the family鈥檚 involvement in significant money laundering.
A CID press release revealed that the family had allegedly laundered funds worth Tk 245.74 crore to Singapore.
Besides, the release added that they laundered money to Malaysia and several European countries also by establishing fake companies, including Canali Logistics Pvt Ltd.
Additionally, Saiful Alam allegedly laundered Tk 95,000 crore received as loans obtained from six banks using forged documents.
The CID claims that another Tk 18,000 crore was siphoned off through offshore banking using shell companies.
