The Criminal Investigation Department of the police has started an inquiry against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury over allegations of laundering money to the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
The Financial Crime Unit of CID received information and allegations from different sources that Saifuzzaman accumulated huge wealth and bought properties by laundering money from Bangladesh, according to a press release issued by CID on Thursday.
CID began the inquiry against Saifuzzaman and the people and organisations connected with him under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.
The investigation agency said that the Bangladesh Bank had allowed 21 organisations to invest in foreign countries. The names of the former minister and his family members were not included in that list.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, also a former AL lawmaker for Chattogram-13 constituency, bought 620 houses worth $48 crore in the US, UK and UAE between 2016 and 2021.
Between 2010 and 2023, the former land minister opened eight organisations for business purposes in the UK and UAE in the names of his and his wife Rukhmila Zaman. The companies are worth over $21.72 crore, the CID release said.
It said that the ex-land minister opened an organisation named Nahar Management Incorporated in the US in 2005 and bought nine apartments in the US since then.
The former minister opened two organisations in Dubai 鈥� the Rapid Rafter FGE and the Jeba Trading FGE 鈥� for business purposes and his
wife bought two apartments worth over AED 22.50 lakh at Q Gardens and Butik Residence.
The CID has found that the former minister did not share anything in the candidate鈥檚 affidavit to the Election Commission about the properties in foreign countries.
On September 18, the Anti-Corruption Commission started an inquiry against Saifuzzaman Chowdhury over the allegations of laundering money to the United Kingdom and amassing illegal wealth.
On August 12, Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 Financial Intelligence Unit froze the bank accounts of the former land minister and his wife. Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera reported that Saifuzzaman, then a minister for land affairs and a close ally of the now deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, bought over 360 luxury properties worth $250m in Britain alone.
It claimed that the former minister鈥檚 appetite for real estate spread to Dubai, New York, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The report available online mentioned that his property buying gained pace in 2017 when he had set up his UK companies, and it accelerated in 2019 when he became a minister.