Govt sends MLARs to UAE, US, UK seeking Saifuzzaman’s assets attachments

The interim government has sent three Mutual Legal Assistance Requests (MLARs) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) seeking attachments of the assets of Bangladesh’s former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, which he accumulated through stolen money.

“We have asked the authorities concerned abroad to attach 228 assets (of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury) in the UAE, seven assets in the US and 343 assets in the UK…MLARs were sent through the Foreign Ministry,” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told a recent press briefing here.

According to the documents obtained by BSS, investigations in several cases filed against Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and individuals and firms related to his interest are underway now, while the National Board of Revenue (NBR) are investigating 11 cases on charge of dodging tax.

Four assets worth Taka 20 crore have already been attached through court and applications were placed before court seeking attachments of two flats and about 31,594 decimal of land.

Court has frozen share of Taka 102.85 crore of Chowdhury and Taka 5.27 crore deposited in his 39 bank accounts.

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) sent intelligence reports to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and froze Taka 15 crore deposited in 125 bank accounts.

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) revealed that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury spent more than US$ 500 million on luxury real estate in London, Dubai, and New York but did not declare his overseas assets on his Bangladesh tax returns.

The I-Unit went undercover in the UK to investigate how Chowdhury, from a powerful family in the port city of Chattogram, amassed a property empire despite a citizen can take out of Bangladesh a US$ 12,000 as annual limit as part of the nation’s currency laws.

Alam said during the Sheikh Hasina regime, about US$ 234 billion was laundered abroad from Bangladesh.

The BFIU and a Joint Investigation Team of the Bangladesh interim government are intensifying efforts to recover US$ 234 billion laundered during the Hasina’s regime, focusing on 11 priority cases involving Hasina, her family, and related entities.

The strategy includes identifying illegal assets domestically and abroad, issuing MLARs and Letters Rogatory (LR) to foreign authorities, freezing or seizing illicit assets, presenting evidence in court, expediting judicial processes, and repatriating recovered funds.

The government is collaborating with the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (STAR), the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Center (IACCC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR).

For cases involving Taka 200 crore or more siphoned off abroad, the government plans to engage experienced international law firms and litigation funds.