Court orders freezing of shares worth Tk 81.33b of S Alam, beneficiaries

A court has ordered freezing of shares worth Tk 81.33 billion belonging to S Alam group’s owner Mohammad Saiful Alam and his beneficiaries.

The order was issued on Sunday by the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Zakir Hossain in response to a petition from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

With this, the courts freeze on shares worth Tk 160 billion belonging to S Alam and his beneficiaries in three phases.

ACC filed the petition seeking a freeze on shares worth Tk 81.33 billion belonging to Saiful Alam and his beneficiaries. ACC told the court that S Alam and different individuals linked with it took loans in different names to embezzle the money.

ACC said it learnt that Saiful Alam and members of his family are trying to either hand over or convert the embezzled money. If they become successful in their bid, it would be difficult to recover the looted money.

The court ordered freezing of shares in the names of 227 individuals or institutions linked with Saiful Alam and his family members.

Earlier on 12 February, the court ordered the freezing of over 4.37 billion shares worth more than Tk 51.09 billion of 42 companies.

On 16 January, a court ordered freezing of over 321 million shares worth more than Tk 35 billion in 24 companies.

On 14 January, the same court ordered to confiscate immoveable properties worth Tk 2 billion and freeze 68 bank accounts of Saiful Alam and his family members.

Moreover, the court on 19 December las year ordered to freeze 125 bank accounts of Saiful Alam and his family members.

The ACC in writing told the court that it is investigating laundering of USD 1 billion by S Alam Group chairman and his family members in Singapore, British Virgin Islands, Cyprus and other countries.

Earlier on 7 October last year, the same court issued a travel ban on Saiful Alam, his wife and 11 members of the family.