Silence reigns at S Alam's three houses, work on bungalow halted

Complete silence prevails over the three houses of Saiful Alam (S Alam), the owner of S Alam Group who embezzled around Tk 2000 billion (Tk 2 lakh crore) in his own name and false names from a dozen banks in Bangladesh. No member of the S Alam family has returned to Bangladesh after the fall of the Awami League government. Previously officials of S Alam Group and the banks under their control would visit these houses regularly, but they no longer do so. Their costly vehicles have been moved away from these houses too. The members of the Ansar force who were on guard, have also have been withdrawn. One of the houses is located at Sugandha residential area in Chattogram and another at their village in Patiya, Chattogram. The other house is in Banani Old DOHS of the capital.

In the meantime, S Alam had begun construction of luxurious bungalows on a 50 acre plot of land in Azimpur of Patiya, Chattogram. Construction work on the bungalows continued for a month after the fall of the government. Then the work halted. The structure for seven brothers of the S Alam family had been raised there, with preparations for lakes by the houses.  This was learnt during a visit to see the four houses and by talking to the local people. 

Saiful Alam was born in 1960 in Patiya , Chattogram. His father was Mozaherul Anwar and mother Chemon Ara Begum. S Alam was the fourth among seven brothers and five sisters. His maternal uncle was industrialist Akhteruzzaman Chowdhury and his cousin former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. With the help of his uncle, be began business in 1985 on the banks of the river Karnaphuli.

The local people of Patiya say, he began as an agent for corrugated tin sheets and then moved on to the transport business. He gradually established businesses in cement, vegetable oil, steel, cooler relief, sugar refinery, power plants and more. In 2004, control of the First Security Islami Bank shifted from the Sikder Group to S Alam Group. From then Saiful Alam himself was the chairman of this bank as well as chairman of Aviva Finance.

After the 2014 election, he became close to the now toppled prime minister Sheikh Hasina. In 2016-17 he gradually took over control of Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, National Bank and Commerce Bank, one after the other. At the same time, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank and Al-Arafah Islami Bank also went into his family's hands. Using this opportunity, he withdrew around Tk 2000 billion (Tk 2 lakh crore) from 9 banks and financial institutions. He amassed wealth in various countries around the world. He used members of his family, their children and the names of their son's-in-law to grab banks and take loans. The entire family became embroiled in these irregularities.

None of S Alam's brothers are very active in business other than Abdus Samad alias Labu.  Abdus Samad Labu was the chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank. All the banks have been relinquished from S Alam's control after the change in government, while the clients are struggling to get their money. Three global accounting firms are working in the actual damage done to these banks and the destination of the funds. The firms are EY, Deloitte and KPMG.

Meanwhile, head of the S Alam Group, Mohammad Saiful Alam, claims that he is a citizen of Singapore. Saiful Alam feels that as a citizen of Singapore and in light of international investment agreement, he is entitled to protection from the tort of intimidation measures Bangladesh Bank is taking against the S Alam Group. The legal firm representing Saiful Alam and his family members has sent a letter to Bangladesh Bank in this regard. Under Singapore law, anyone becoming a citizen must give up citizenship of other countries. And, sources confirm, that is what S Alam has done.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, former professor of the Chittagong University economics department Moinul Islam, said, "S Alam embezzled bank funds with state patronage. Even if all his houses, factories and property in the country are seized, even 10 per cent of the embezzled money will not be recovered. He relinquished his citizenship and took up citizenship in Cyprus and Singapore. So there are doubts as to how far Bangladesh will be able to take action against him or recover the funds. So the government must step up communication with the countries where his wealth lies and take measures to recover these funds. Anything else will simply mean waste of time and money."

S Alam's original home is 650 metres from Patiya upazila. During a visit there last Wednesday, a large built-up pond was seen in front of his four-storey house. There is a guardroom by the pond. On the premises are coconut trees and several other local fruit trees. The house is locked up and there is no one around to speak. The road that runs in front of the house has been officially named 'S Alam Bari Sarak' by the Patiya pourashava. The road was inaugurated in February 2020 by the Patiya pourashava mayor Harunur Rashid, ward councillor Gofran Rana and the reserved seat councillor Yasmin Akhter.

"When we went in front of the house to take pictures, many from around the place came forward. None of them wanted to reveal their names. We asked who owned the house, and they said in their local dialect, "S Alam shaheb." They said he would come to the village before, but no longer after the Covid outbreak. Whenever he would go there, many people would go to him for help. Many of them received assistance. It is now being heard that S Alam has run away with people's money, that he has given up citizenship of the country.

Within 200 metres from S Alam's village home is the home of his personal assistant and former deputy general manager of Islami Bank, Akiz Uddin. There is no one in that four-storey building. He too had left the country along with his mother, wife and children.

After S Alam took up his business from Patiya to Chattogram, he built a house in the city. We visited Sugandha residential area in Chattogram city on Thursday to get a look at the S Alam House on Road 1. The gate to the seven-storey house was locked. When he knocked on the gate, a person named Shahabuddin opened it. When we spoke to him in the local dialect, he let us sit in the guardroom. He said the seven-storey house was built for seven brothers. S Alam would live on the second floor. The two-storey building on one side was for guards, drivers and for guests to spend the night. Both the buildings are now absolutely vacant. Two house helps have been kept to clean the houses. There is a car, covered, on the premises. He said there was another car which the driver had taken to the workshop for repairs. There were a few other cars, but those had been moved away.

Speaking to neighbours, it was learnt that when S Alam would come to that house, there would be a long line of students along the road, standing with applications, seeking jobs. In the past, every day food for around 200 people would be cooked. There were 10 Ansar members kept to guard the house. There were another 10 to 15 house staff members. All this was shut down after the government changed. The Ansar members and others left.

Today, Monday, we visited S Alam's house on the Mosque Road of Banani DOHS in the capital. The family owns two flats on the third floor of this house, House No 92. Each flat is 3,500 sq ft. S Alam stayed in one and his son-in-law, Social Islami Bank's former chairman Belal Ahmed would stay in the other.

The neighbours said that they had facilities for two cars on the ground floor. A Mitsubishi Xpander was seen there. There had been a white BMW there, but that had been moved away.

The security guard Md Selim said there was no one in either of the flats. S Alam's mother Chemon Ara had died in this house last October. There had been a few domestic helpers and house staff at the time. S Alam and his son-in-law had come there two months before the fall of the government. No one had been to the house since. The house has been vacant since the mother passed away. No one comes to pay the service charges either, just sends it by BKash.

Neighbours say many high level government persons would come to this house. He would live here before, but after 2018 he would not stay here for more than two or three days when he came to the country. People would line up to meet him then.

On last Wednesday and Thursday we paid two visits to Azimpur, 10km away from Patiya. S Alam's bungalows were being built there on 50 acres of land. There were to be the houses on one side of the road, a mosque and graveyard on the other. The bungalows were under lock and key. There were seven houses for the seven S Alam brothers. The one for S Alam was four storeys, each floor 15,000 sq ft. The others were duplexes of 3,500 sq ft. There was a lake by each house. The rest of the land lay vacant.

This project was taken up in 2020. Much time was spent in landfill and demarcating the boundary. Then the work was given to four contracting firms of Patiya and Chattogram. S Alam and family visited the place several times to picnic. Work continued on the construction for a month after the government fell. But as the bills were not being paid, work came to a halt. Every day 200 workers would work here. Now there are only four security guards.

Md Touhid has a grocery shop in front of the bungalow area and, he told Prothom Alo, he would sell food of around Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 every day. Now that has dropped to lower than a thousand taka.