Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s assets being sold off in the UK
Initiatives have been taken in the United Kingdom to sell part of the assets of Bangladesh’s former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury in order to repay his debts.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, six housing companies owned by Saifuzzaman have gone under the administration process. These companies were used to manage his various assets in the UK.
According to The Telegraph report, the scale of Saifuzzaman’s UK property empire emerged after Bangladeshi authorities launched an investigation into his alleged illicit wealth. He is reported to own more than 300 properties in the UK, including houses, flats and apartments, worth £170 million in total. He is accused of laundering money to the UK to acquire these assets.
At the request of Bangladeshi authorities, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seized several of Saifuzzaman’s properties in June. These include an £11 million luxury house in St John’s Wood, north London, as well as multiple flats in Fitzrovia, central London.
The administrators from UK asset management firm Grant Thornton have now been tasked with selling part of Saifuzzaman’s properties.
These properties include residential buildings in London and towns across the south-east of England. Proceeds from the sales will be used to repay creditors that include Singapore-based lender DBS and the British Arab Commercial Bank.
Filings with Companies House in the UK also show that United Commercial Bank in Bangladesh is seeking repayment of around USD 350 million from Saifuzzaman.
Following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August last year after a student–public uprising, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been investigating illegal assets at home and abroad held by Saifuzzaman and other figures close to the former government.
In addition to Saifuzzaman, the NCA has also seized London properties owned by Ahmed Shayan F Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s former private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman, and by Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, Salman’s nephew.