Court also orders freezing of 68 bank accounts of Alam, family
The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge鈥檚 court on Tuesday ordered the seizure of 68 bank accounts and 16 properties of S Alam Group chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family.
S Alam Group chairman Saiful Alam was a close associate of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina who fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
Several government agencies are investigating asset embezzlement and money laundering allegations against S Alam.
S Alam allegedly took about Tk 2 lakh crore from a number of banks in names and anonymously. A large portion of the funds was allegedly laundered abroad.
Saiful Alam and his family surrendered their Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020 and took Singaporean citizenship in 2021.
On Tuesday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge鈥檚 court also directed the authorities concerned to freeze five bank accounts of former lawmaker for the Bogura-2 constituency Mohammad Shariful Islam Jinnah and his wife over allegations of corruption.
It also ordered the attachment of one of their vehicles and five immovable properties.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib issued the order for the seizure of bank聽 accounts and properties of Saiful Alam and his family.
He came up with the order following a petition submitted by Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Siffat Uddin for the seizure of these assets, said ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir.
The 16 properties are the 10-story S Alam Tower at Gulshan, a six-story building with one bigha of land at Dhanmondi, a four-story building on 11.88 decimals of land at Dhanmondi Lake Circus, a flat on 2,658 square feet of land at Gulshan, a plot of 0.788 acres at Gulshan 2, a building at Maat Tala in the Uttara residential area, a plot of 103.3 kathas of land in the Bashundhara residential area at Vatara, 1,700 acres of land, 96 kathas of land, 1,536 acres of land, 11,061 bighas of land and 131.4 kathas of land.
Apart from these, the same court also imposed a travel ban on former environment, forest, and climate change minister Md Shahab Uddin, his son Zakir Hossain Jumon, and former deputy minister for environment and forests Abdullah Al Islam Jakob over graft allegations.
Judge Zakir Hossain Galib passed the orders, allowing two separate pleas of the ACC.
The anti-graft body in its plea against Shahab Uddin and his son alleged that the father-son duo had amassed huge illegal wealth through corruption and embezzlement of public money.
The ACC also said that it was probing allegations of corruption, embezzlement of public funds, laundering money, and amassment of huge illegal wealth against Jakob.