Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat: Rising to the top on state patronage

Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat began his career in 1999 at Standard Chartered Bank. While working in this foreign bank, he suddenly became an independent director of IFIC Bank. When the question arose of his working in one bank and being the director of another, he left his job at Standard Chartered Bank.

In 2008 he joined ICB Islamic Bank and became the head of consumer banking. His business card read, 'MD, Consumer Banking, ICB Global Holdings'.

Prior to that, Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat acquired a mutual trust fund licence from Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). He first applied for the licence in his own name. As such licences are not issued in the name of individuals, he formed a company upon the advice of BSEC member Mohammad Ali Khan. This company's name is Bangladesh RACE Asset Management of which he has 25 per cent ownership. The rest belongs to his partner Hasan Imam. This information was provided by those who worked at BSEC at the time and Nafeez Sarafat himself conformed this too.

After Awami League formed the government in 2009, Nafeez Sarafat became extremely powerful in various sectors. He drew close to the home minister at the time, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir. Later he forged ties with the former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed.

The media also revealed his good relations with the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. With family roots in Gopalganj, he would address Sheikh Hasina as "phuphu" (aunt). He would call the former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal "chacha" (uncle). He would refer to the ex-IGP Benazir Ahmed as his cousin.

Banking and share market circles were well aware of his links with Sheikh Hasina's advisor and Beximco Group's vice chairman Salman F Rahman, EXIM Bank chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumdar and Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar.

Within just 13 years, under state patronage, Nafeez Sarafat became to be known as a mysterious but formidable individual in the country's banking sector, share market, power sector, private university sector, the media and a number of other sectors. According to preliminary findings of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), he accumulated wealth Tk 10 billion (Tk 1000 crore ). After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, ACC has formed a three-member team to look into his assets.
Rising through the share market

Persons related to the share market said that Nafeez Sarafat manipulated the bourse as he pleased. RACE Asset began with EBL First Mutual Fund. Presently RACE manages 13 funds. Despite the term ending, these were extended for another 10 years at the recommendation of Nafeez Sarafat.

Khairul Hossain had been BSEC chairman at the time. Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, "I had rejected the proposal to extend the term of the funds. Then the finance minister at the time Abul Mal Abdul Muhit sent a letter saying this can be done. I had to comply."

On 20 August this correspondent spoke for around 50 minutes with Nafeez Sarafat over phone about all these matters. Speaking about the extension of the term of these funds, he told Prothom Alo, if these funds were liquefied, the money would leave the market and this would have a negative impact. That is why he approved of the term extension.

In 2021 he was elected shareholder director of National Tea Company which was registered with the share market. On 30 June the funds run by RACE stood at Tk 32 billion (Tk 3,200 crore) in purchase value and Tk 23.5 billion (Tk 2350 crore) in market value.

Through Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), bank transactions of RACE Asset Management's funds have been frozen from June.

Alongside directly enlisting Best Holdings, Nafeez also lobbied to secure the approval of the IPO of Coppertech Industries. Allegations of fraudulence arose concerning the financial report of Coppertech, for which the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recommended punitive action against the auditors Ahmed and Akhter.

Speaking recently to Prothom Alo, FRC's chairman at the time CQK Mushtaq Ahmed said that Nafeez Sarafat had come to lobby at FRC. Mushtaq Ahmed said, "I asked him why he had come despite not being involved in the company. I did not respond to Nafeez Sarafat's request as I suspected some other sort of matter was involved." He said that even the Financial Institutions Division chairman Asadul Islam had lobbied in favour of Nafeez Sarafat.

Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat is the chairman of the Canadian University of Bangladesh trustee board. The chief advisor of the trustee board is Suchinta Foundation's chairman Mohammad A Arafat, who later became a state minister. On 2 December 2018 RAJUK allocated a 171.16 katha plot for this university in the Purbachal new township. The government incurred a loss of Tk 777 million (Tk 77 crore) because of this.

RAJUK sources say in the original layout of the Purbachal New Town project, this plot had been for a secondary school. On 4 December 2017 Nafeez Sarafat applied that the category of the plot be changed to 'college/university'. This was placed before that RAJUK board and approved on 26 December.

Nafeez Sarafat's wife Anjuman Ara Shaheed Chowdhury owns a plot of land on Road 103 in Gulshan. An application was submitted on 27 July 2017 to make this a commercial plot and RAJUK have its approval, at the intervention of housing and public works minister Mosharraf Hossain. Yet RAJUL had earlier said this plot was not to be used for commercial purposes. Giving permission in January 2018, RAJUK said that this approval was given at the directives of the housing and public works ministry.
Speaking to Prothom Alo in this regard, Nafeez Sarafat said they had got the 171 plot of land by means of lottery. And as this was an educational institution, the law was not violated. The commercial plot was also done in accordance to the law.

In 2012 the licence for Farmers Bank was given to former home minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on political considerations. Due to corruption, the bank almost collapsed and in November 2017 he stepped down as chairman of the bank. Nafeez Sarafat was the new chairman. Bangladesh Bank, under governor Fazle Kabir, relaxed many regulations on the assurance that foreign investment would be brought it. And with Tk 7.15 billion (Tk 715 crore), Sonali Bank, Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank, Janata Bank and ICB bought 65 per cent of the bank's shares.

In 2019 Farmers Bank's name was changed to Padma Bank. But in the six years under Nafeez, the bank' condition deteriorated further. Its default loans stood at 62 per cent. In 2024 he left the bank. Nafeez Sarafat, through the governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar, made arrangements for this bank to be merged with EXIM Bank.

Nafeez Sarafat told Prothom Alo, "It had a lot of default loans. But no one received any loans after I took over as chairman. The initiative to merge was taken in the bank's interest."

After Padma Bank, Nafeez's eyes swiveled to Southeast Bank. He cleverly removed the bank's former two chairmen MA Kasem and Azimuddin Ahmed from the board. Alamgir Kabir was made the bank's chairman. Nafeez Sarafat's wife Anjuman Ara Shahid became a director of the bank. He wanted to make his son Chowdhury Rahib Sarafat a director of the bank too but could not do so because of his lack of experience.

Abdur Rauf Talukdar had been the chairman of Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL). He had summoned the BIFFL MD Farmanul Islam and put pressure on him ti make some unscrupulous investments. The prime minister's advisor Salman F Rahman and Nafeez Sarafat had been present at the time.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Farmanul Islam said, "As I did not acquiesce, I was obliged to resign from BIFFL." He said Nafeez Sarafat has also put the pressure on for BIFFL to invest Tk 5 billion (Tk 500 crore) in Best Holdings' bonds.

Nafeez Sarafat launched the online news portal NewsBangla24.com and in September 2002 also took control of Dainik Bangla which had been revived after 25 years. EXIM Bank chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumdar was involved in both. And the acting editor of both these media outlets was Nafeez Sarafat's brother Chowdhury Zafullah Sarafat.

On the day that NewsBangla was launched, Nafeez Sarafat also announced that he would be launching a TV channel. The process by which he took initiative to launch a TV channel is still mysterious. Awami League's member of parliament at the time Shafiqur Rahman got the licence for a channel called Citizen TV (not on air as yet).

In a written complaint on 30 May this year, Shafiqur Rahman stated at 12:00am one night he was picked up from his house and taken to Westin Hotel where Nafeez Sarafat forced him sign over shares of the TV channel. Present at the time were the IGP Benazir Ahmed and others. That was in 2019. Later he learnt that there were 30 per cent shares in his name, 30 per cent in the name of Benazir's two daughters, 25 per cent in the name of Nafeez Sarafat and 15 per cent in the name of someone by the name of Tutul.

When asked about the matter, Nafeez Sarafat brushed this aside as fabricated.

Alongside owning the mutual funds, Nafeez Sarafat is also the chairman of Argus Credit Rating Services. And his brother, sister, son and daughter are on the board of the Canadian University board. Nafeez Sarafat is also shareholder of Padma Bank and director of Unique Meghnaghat Power.
Padma Bank's Gopalganj branch is housed in their family building. There are eight flats in the names of Nafeez, his wife and brother in Basundhara residential area, Green Road, Gulshan, Baridhara and Nikunja. They reportedly have several flats in Canada too.

Nafeez Sarafat is the president of Canada Bangladesh Chamber House (Canada), member of Kurmitola Golf Club and Army Golf Club, vice president of World Change Federation (Bangladesh chapter), and member of Bangladesh Economy Association.

Nafeez Sarafat said he is very hard working. He said he was accomplished in his 50 years of life what would normally take 80 years. As for his friendships and connections that have been mentioned, he said that these ties grew through business.

When Nafeez Sarafat became chairman of Padma Bank, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore drew a caricature of him. The cartoon depicted Nafeez's navel as the combination lock of the bank's safe. The caption was something about him knowing how to devour a bank. On 2 May 200 cartoonist Kishore and the caption writer Mushtaque Ahmed were picked up.

They were shown to have been arrested on 5 May and their appeals for bail were rejected six times in 10 months. On 25 February 2021 Mushtaque Ahmed does in the Kashempur jail. The next month Kishore was granted bail. In a media interview at the time, Kishore said that while he was being tortured, he was questioned about a cartoon of banker that he had drawn.
When asked if he had a hand behind the two being tortured, Nafeez Sarafat told Prothom Alo, "I did not know either of them. There were cartoons of many persons, and one of me. The agency person may have been over zealous about this."

When former teacher of Chittagong University's department of economics Mainul Islam was asked about the overall matter, he told Prothom Alo, "We have observed that the resigned government of Sheikh Hasina would lend patronage to a handful of people, giving them scope for embezzlement. Nafeez Sarafat was among them. It can be deduced that Sheikh Hasina's relatives benefitted for these embezzlers."

Mainul Islam said, it is the task of the interim government to investigate Nafeez Sarafat and other like him and take action accordingly.

*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir