Latest news with #SaifuzzamanChowdhury
News18
7 days ago
- Business
- News18
Hasina Loyalists Sold UK Properties After Her Fall, Yunus Now Demands Probe: Report
Bangladesh is probing embezzlement tied to former regime families. The UK's NCA froze millions in assets, including those of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and the Rahman family. Following the political change in Bangladesh, authorities have opened investigations into prominent business and political families linked to the former regime. The probes focus on allegations of embezzlement and money laundering, with claims that significant sums were invested in luxury UK properties. The National Crime Agency (NCA) in Britain has already acted against some high-profile individuals, according to a report by UK-based newspaper The Guardian, who first reported the development. London's property market is under increasing scrutiny from both UK and Bangladeshi investigators. The UK's National Crime Agency froze £90 million in assets connected to the Rahman family and over £170 million tied to former minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the newspaper said in its report. Chowdhury allegedly amassed more than 300 UK properties during his tenure. These freezes are part of a broader crackdown on questionable foreign investments in London, with the NCA working closely with international partners. The report said that several individuals under investigation sought to liquidate, transfer or refinance their UK properties after the change in Bangladesh's political landscape. Transparency campaigners raised concerns that this could jeopardize recovery efforts. Bangladeshi authorities have requested their UK counterparts to tighten scrutiny and prevent the suspected movement of assets. Guardian said. They stressed that such actions would support due legal processes and help ensure any unlawfully acquired funds are repatriated. The powerful Sobhan family, behind the Bashundhara conglomerate, reportedly engaged in property transfers worth millions. One Knightsbridge townhouse changed hands twice in unclear transactions, prompting questions over financial dealings. Investigators in Dhaka are probing potential money laundering links, Bangladeshi news media outlets reported. The family has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to defend themselves. Properties associated with Saifuzzaman Chowdhury's relatives and business contacts have seen multiple recent transactions, including sales and refinancing moves. Chowdhury's brother, Anisuzzaman, sold a £10 million Regent's Park property, while further dealings are under review. Allegations have also emerged about his links with a London-based developer facing scrutiny. The NCA also froze assets tied to the Rahman family, which includes a £35 million apartment in Grosvenor Square, the report said. Members of the family are under investigation in Dhaka, and while the Rahmans reject allegations of misconduct, authorities are examining financial flows between Dhaka and London. The family has pledged to cooperate with any legal processes. Transparency International has questioned the role of UK law firms and advisers who facilitated property deals for individuals under investigation. Concerns include inadequate source-of-wealth checks and possible failures to report suspicious transactions. Calls have grown for stricter oversight to prevent illicit funds from vanishing through London's financial networks. The unrest in Bangladesh leading up to the regime change was marked by months of student-led protests, sparked by economic grievances and governance concerns. Clashes between protestors and security forces resulted in casualties, drawing global attention. While Sheikh Hasina's departure led to a new interim setup, political tensions remain high in Bangladesh. The anti-corruption drive is part of a broader reform agenda, but some critics see it as politically sensitive, motivated by revenge of the interim government and the rivals of the Hasina regime. view comments First Published: July 22, 2025, 17:39 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Bangladeshis linked to Hasina regime appear to have made UK property transactions in past year
By the time Bangladesh's student-led revolution finally toppled Sheikh Hasina, her security forces had already spilled the blood of hundreds of protesters. Now, almost a year after the country's autocratic leader fled the former British colony into exile, an interim government is struggling to navigate bitter factional politics and economic turmoil. Against that traumatic backdrop, a Knightsbridge townhouse in London, or a mansion on a private road in Surrey, seem worlds away. Yet luxury UK real estate is playing a central role in the drama. Investigators in Dhaka have been sifting through allegations that powerful and politically connected figures under the previous regime exploited senior positions to loot state contracts and the banking system, channelling millions into UK property. In May, the National Crime Agency (NCA) – sometimes called Britain's FBI – froze £90m of property belonging to members of the Rahman family, whose UK portfolio was revealed in a Guardian investigation last year. Three weeks later, the NCA froze more than £170m of assets belonging to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, a former land minister in the Hasina government who amassed a vast fortune during her tenure that included more than 300 UK properties, ranging from apartments to lavish townhouses. Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the campaign group Transparency International has found that several Bangladeshis who are under scrutiny in Dhaka appear to have either sold, transferred or refinanced UK property since the revolution began. The transactions raise questions about the freedom with which those under suspicion have continued to conduct business in London, as well as the due diligence performed by UK law firms and consultants who helped facilitate the transactions. Leading figures in Bangladesh's interim government are now calling on Britain to err on the side of caution by freezing more UK property assets while the authorities in Dhaka complete their investigations. London property could now play a starring role in what has been billed by some as a long overdue anti-corruption purge – but by others as a politically motivated witch-hunt. The London five-star hotel the Dorchester, where rooms cost upwards of £800 a night, may not seem the most appropriate base from which to take aim at a decadent elite. Yet the Mayfair hotel's plush rooms served as the temporary home of a large Bangladeshi government delegation that visited in early June, led by the interim premier, Muhammad Yunus, on a mission to forge stronger ties with the UK. London is of particular importance to Bangladesh, due in part to the huge diaspora in the capital, but also to the UK's offer of support to track assets that investigators in Dhaka think may have been obtained using laundered money. Ahsan Mansur, the central bank governor who is leading his country's efforts to repatriate assets, wants more measures such as those issued against Chowdhury and the Rahmans. 'We are aware of efforts to liquidate assets and we would like the UK government to consider more freezing orders,' Mansur said. Measures to block transactions would, he said, 'give us hope of following due process to repatriate assets'. His call was echoed by the chair of Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Last month, Mohammad Abdul Momen said he had asked the NCA to consider freezing the assets of several individuals, amid a flurry of post-revolutionary property market activity. Disclosures to the UK Land Registry show at least 20 'applications for dealing' have been submitted in the past year in relation to property owned by figures under scrutiny by Dhaka. Such documents typically indicate a sale, transfer or change to a mortgage. Three relate to £24.5m worth of property ultimately owned by members of the Sobhan family, the powerful dynasty behind the multibillion-pound Bashundhara business group, a conglomerate that spans cement to media. One, a four-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge, has been the subject of two recent transactions, the purpose of which are unclear. Until April last year, it was owned directly by Sayem Sobhan Anvir, Bashundhara's managing director, via a company based in the United Arab Emirates. Sobhan is among several family members under investigation by the ACC for allegations including money laundering, the Guardian understands. In April, the property was transferred – apparently free of charge – to a UK business called Brookview Heights Ltd. Brookview is owned by a director of Orbis London, a real estate advisory firm with offices in Liechtenstein and Singapore that has acted for the Sobhans on property transactions in the past. The London home appears to have subsequently been sold for £7.35m to a newly formed company, whose sole director is an accountant with no online profile. The accountant is registered as the owner and director of multiple other companies that appear to be special purpose vehicles for multimillion-pound London properties. Land Registry records show that UK law firms have made two more applications for dealing on properties owned by another member of the Sobhan family, Shafiat, including an £8m mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey. A family member did not return a request for comment but has previously said that the family deny 'all allegations of wrongdoing and will robustly defend ourselves against these allegations'. Members of the Sobhan family are among a clutch of UK property owners whose assets the ACC has asked the NCA to consider freezing. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Two more individuals have come under scrutiny from the ACC as part of investigations into Chowdhury. Both have engaged in multiple property deals over the past year. One is Chowdhury's brother, Anisuzzaman, while the other is a successful British-Bangladeshi property developer, whom the Guardian has chosen not to name. Land Registry data shows recent market activity on four properties owned by Anisuzzaman Chowdhury. They include the sale of a £10m Georgian townhouse on the fringes of Regent's Park, central London, completed last July. A further three applications, understood to relate to refinancing, have taken place since. Lawyers for Anisuzzaman Chowdhury said he did not believe that there was any legitimate reason for any of his assets to be frozen and that the sale of the Regent's Park property was agreed in 2023, before the revolution. According to reports in Bangladesh, the ACC has previously been asked by the chair of a large local bank, UCB, to investigate whether Chowdhury helped the London-based property developer obtain loans irregularly from the lender. This year, a Bangladeshi court imposed a travel ban on the developer, who denies any wrongdoing. A further three applications for dealing relate to properties owned by the son and the nephew of Salman F Rahman, who runs the Beximco business group, one of Bangladesh's largest conglomerates. Ahmed Shayan Rahman and Ahmed Shahryar Rahman are under investigation by the ACC. The properties, including a £35m apartment in Mayfair's Grosvenor Square, were frozen by the NCA last month. Lawyers for the Rahmans said they denied any wrongdoing. They said 'political upheaval' in Bangladesh had led to allegations being made against many people, adding that they would 'engage with any investigation which takes place in the UK'. Joe Powell MP, the chair of an all-party parliamentary group examining corruption and tax, wants any such investigations to move quickly. 'History tells us that assets can quickly evaporate unless swift steps are taken to freeze those assets while investigations are under way,' he said. Powell welcomed the action already taken by the NCA but urged it to 'expand the net as soon as possible'. The Labour MP leads a group of parliamentarians that is targeting London's reputation as a home for suspicious funds and those who enable the transfer of that wealth, particularly given the renewed focus on oligarchs that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Transparency International is raising questions over the role played by multiple UK firms that have acted for individuals the NCA has already targeted, or who the ACC has named. The law firm Jaswal Johnston submitted applications on properties owned by the Rahmans. A spokesperson said the firm had not been involved in any sales and that it took its due diligence obligations 'extremely seriously'. Merali Beedle, a law firm that made applications for dealing on one £35m Rahman property and another £8m home owned by a member of the Sobhan family, declined to comment. A spokesperson for Transparency International said: 'Professional services firms should exercise extreme caution when conducting regulated activities for clients known to be under investigation. They should perform comprehensive source-of-wealth checks and immediately report suspicious activity to police. 'Without swift action, these funds risk vanishing into the international financial system, potentially placing them beyond recovery.' The ACC declined to comment on its investigations.
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Bangladeshis linked to Hasina regime appear to have made UK property transactions in past year
By the time Bangladesh's student-led revolution finally toppled Sheikh Hasina, her security forces had already spilled the blood of hundreds of protesters. Now, almost a year after the country's autocratic leader fled the former British colony into exile, an interim government is struggling to navigate bitter factional politics and economic turmoil. Against that traumatic backdrop, a Knightsbridge townhouse in London, or a mansion on a private road in Surrey, seem worlds away. Yet luxury UK real estate is playing a central role in the drama. Investigators in Dhaka have been sifting through allegations that powerful and politically connected figures under the previous regime exploited senior positions to loot state contracts and the banking system, channelling millions into UK property. In May, the National Crime Agency (NCA) – sometimes called Britain's FBI – froze £90m of property belonging to members of the Rahman family, whose UK portfolio was revealed in a Guardian investigation last year. Three weeks later, the NCA froze more than £170m of assets belonging to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, a former land minister in the Hasina government who amassed a vast fortune during her tenure that included more than 300 UK properties, ranging from apartments to lavish townhouses. Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the campaign group Transparency International has found that several Bangladeshis who are under scrutiny in Dhaka appear to have either sold, transferred or refinanced UK property since the revolution began. The transactions raise questions about the freedom with which those under suspicion have continued to conduct business in London, as well as the due diligence performed by UK law firms and consultants who helped facilitate the transactions. Leading figures in Bangladesh's interim government are now calling on Britain to err on the side of caution by freezing more UK property assets while the authorities in Dhaka complete their investigations. London property could now play a starring role in what has been billed by some as a long overdue anti-corruption purge – but by others as a politically motivated witch-hunt. The London five-star hotel the Dorchester, where rooms cost upwards of £800 a night, may not seem the most appropriate base from which to take aim at a decadent elite. Yet the Mayfair hotel's plush rooms served as the temporary home of a large Bangladeshi government delegation that visited in early June, led by the interim premier, Muhammad Yunus, on a mission to forge stronger ties with the UK. London is of particular importance to Bangladesh, due in part to the huge diaspora in the capital, but also to the UK's offer of support to track assets that investigators in Dhaka think may have been obtained using laundered money. Ahsan Mansur, the central bank governor who is leading his country's efforts to repatriate assets, wants more measures such as those issued against Chowdhury and the Rahmans. 'We are aware of efforts to liquidate assets and we would like the UK government to consider more freezing orders,' Mansur said. Measures to block transactions would, he said, 'give us hope of following due process to repatriate assets'. His call was echoed by the chair of Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Last month, Mohammad Abdul Momen said he had asked the NCA to consider freezing the assets of several individuals, amid a flurry of post-revolutionary property market activity. Disclosures to the UK Land Registry show at least 20 'applications for dealing' have been submitted in the past year in relation to property owned by figures under scrutiny by Dhaka. Such documents typically indicate a sale, transfer or change to a mortgage. Three relate to £24.5m worth of property ultimately owned by members of the Sobhan family, the powerful dynasty behind the multibillion-pound Bashundhara business group, a conglomerate that spans cement to media. One, a four-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge, has been the subject of two recent transactions, the purpose of which are unclear. Until April last year, it was owned directly by Sayem Sobhan Anvir, Bashundhara's managing director, via a company based in the United Arab Emirates. Sobhan is among several family members under investigation by the ACC for allegations including money laundering, the Guardian understands. In April, the property was transferred – apparently free of charge – to a UK business called Brookview Heights Ltd. Brookview is owned by a director of Orbis London, a real estate advisory firm with offices in Liechtenstein and Singapore that has acted for the Sobhans on property transactions in the past. The London home appears to have subsequently been sold for £7.35m to a newly formed company, whose sole director is an accountant with no online profile. The accountant is registered as the owner and director of multiple other companies that appear to be special purpose vehicles for multimillion-pound London properties. Land Registry records show that UK law firms have made two more applications for dealing on properties owned by another member of the Sobhan family, Shafiat, including an £8m mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey. A family member did not return a request for comment but has previously said that the family deny 'all allegations of wrongdoing and will robustly defend ourselves against these allegations'. Members of the Sobhan family are among a clutch of UK property owners whose assets the ACC has asked the NCA to consider freezing. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Two more individuals have come under scrutiny from the ACC as part of investigations into Chowdhury. Both have engaged in multiple property deals over the past year. One is Chowdhury's brother, Anisuzzaman, while the other is a successful British-Bangladeshi property developer, whom the Guardian has chosen not to name. Land Registry data shows recent market activity on four properties owned by Anisuzzaman Chowdhury. They include the sale of a £10m Georgian townhouse on the fringes of Regent's Park, central London, completed last July. A further three applications, understood to relate to refinancing, have taken place since. Lawyers for Anisuzzaman Chowdhury said he did not believe that there was any legitimate reason for any of his assets to be frozen and that the sale of the Regent's Park property was agreed in 2023, before the revolution. According to reports in Bangladesh, the ACC has previously been asked by the chair of a large local bank, UCB, to investigate whether Chowdhury helped the London-based property developer obtain loans irregularly from the lender. This year, a Bangladeshi court imposed a travel ban on the developer, who denies any wrongdoing. A further three applications for dealing relate to properties owned by the son and the nephew of Salman F Rahman, who runs the Beximco business group, one of Bangladesh's largest conglomerates. Ahmed Shayan Rahman and Ahmed Shahryar Rahman are under investigation by the ACC. The properties, including a £35m apartment in Mayfair's Grosvenor Square, were frozen by the NCA last month. Lawyers for the Rahmans said they denied any wrongdoing. They said 'political upheaval' in Bangladesh had led to allegations being made against many people, adding that they would 'engage with any investigation which takes place in the UK'. Joe Powell MP, the chair of an all-party parliamentary group examining corruption and tax, wants any such investigations to move quickly. 'History tells us that assets can quickly evaporate unless swift steps are taken to freeze those assets while investigations are under way,' he said. Powell welcomed the action already taken by the NCA but urged it to 'expand the net as soon as possible'. The Labour MP leads a group of parliamentarians that is targeting London's reputation as a home for suspicious funds and those who enable the transfer of that wealth, particularly given the renewed focus on oligarchs that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Transparency International is raising questions over the role played by multiple UK firms that have acted for individuals the NCA has already targeted, or who the ACC has named. The law firm Jaswal Johnston submitted applications on properties owned by the Rahmans. A spokesperson said the firm had not been involved in any sales and that it took its due diligence obligations 'extremely seriously'. Merali Beedle, a law firm that made applications for dealing on one £35m Rahman property and another £8m home owned by a member of the Sobhan family, declined to comment. A spokesperson for Transparency International said: 'Professional services firms should exercise extreme caution when conducting regulated activities for clients known to be under investigation. They should perform comprehensive source-of-wealth checks and immediately report suspicious activity to police. 'Without swift action, these funds risk vanishing into the international financial system, potentially placing them beyond recovery.' The ACC declined to comment on its investigations.
Bloomberg
12-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
UK Freezes 342 Properties Linked to Ex-Bangladesh Minister
British police have frozen 342 properties worth around £185 million ($252 million) linked to the family of Bangladesh's ex-land minister, pursuing a crackdown on assets held by members of the former government. The National Crime Agency won the court freezing order against the properties belonging to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury earlier this month. The freezing order comes more than a year after a Bloomberg investigation that showed Chowdhury had amassed a UK real estate empire ranging from luxury apartments in central London to student accommodation in Liverpool.
The National
12-06-2025
- Business
- The National
UK freezes £185m of properties linked to former Bangladeshi minister
The UK's National Crime Agency has frozen £185 million ($236 million) worth of properties linked to Bangladesh's former land minister, as the country's interim government seeks to recover the billions of dollars it claims were embezzled by the ousted Sheikh Hasina and her allies. The NCA said on Thursday that it had frozen 342 properties with a combined purchase price of about £185 million after it was granted orders by the High Court in London on June 5. 'We can confirm that the NCA has secured freezing orders against a number of properties as part of an on-going civil investigation,' the agency said. The properties are believed to be owned by or linked to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, land minister of Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina, agency and includes a high-end property in the St John's Wood area of North London, according to the Financial Times. 'We can confirm that the NCA has secured freezing orders against a number of properties as part of an ongoing civil investigation,' the agency said on Thursday. Freezing orders prevent a person from selling or disposing of an asset while an investigation is under way. Bangladesh's interim leader Mohammed Yunus is on his first official visit to the UK this week, where he reiterated his pledge to track down money he alleges was stolen by the former Sheikh Hasina government. Mr Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work on micro-financing, met with King Charles III on Thursday before receiving the King's Harmony Awards. He also met the UK's National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell on Wednesday, while his anti-corruption chief, Ahsan Mansur met the NCA. Mr Yunus said on Wednesday that Bangladesh had a 'historical' opportunity to 'clean' its institutions and combat corruption. The interim government accused Sheikh Hasina's former regime of siphoning $234 billion between 2003 and 2019 in a white paper published late last year. Mr Yunus said that so far overseas governments, including the European Union had been 'extremely supportive' of the efforts. 'Bangladesh is just deep into corruption. Every system is corrupt. People are corrupt. So how to clean it up? What kind of changes do we have to make to make the government clean?' he said, speaking at foreign affairs think tank Chatham House. 'There is a formula, there is a policy, there is a way to do that.' The government was preparing a 'big package' of reforms dubbed the July Charter, which would be drafted by a government 'consensus building commission' that seeks to find common ground among Bangladesh's political parties. 'They're responsibility is to … find out which recommendations all parties accept. That is a tough job for Bangladeshi politicians to agree on something,' he said. He rejected suggestions that such a process was taking away the democratic element and trusting voters to pick the ideas. 'Voters can watch the debate, it's on the newspaper every day. Our aim to get those recommendations, put it in a separate piece of paper. Then all the parties sign the paper,' he said. Last month, Bangladesh reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund, in which Dhaka would get $1.3 billion in June after agreeing to key exchange rate reforms. IMF pressed for greater exchange rate flexibility, particularly the adoption of a crawling peg mechanism. The country was pulling through its deep economic crisis thanks to remittances from migrants in the UK and Middle, Mr Yunus added. The interim government had 'huge bills to pay' which were currently being covered by deposits from Bangladeshis abroad who send money back home. 'We have to make payments for all those people who are knocking at the door with the big checks, big bills that we have to pay, otherwise we're going to the court, which is not good for us,' he said speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday during a 4 day official visit. The banking system had 'collapsed' and foreign reserves were 'empty', he added. 'The best thing that happened to us the overseas Bangladeshis, many of them are here in London, in England and so on and Middle East. They kept sending remittance, a huge amount of remittances, and that saved us,' he said. 'Remittances keep growing, keep growing, keep growing. Today, our balance of payment situation is completely changed,' he said. Earlier this year, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, resigned from her role as a Treasury minister charged with combatting corruption, after she was named in two Bangladeshi investigations into Sheikh Hasina's assets. The former leader of Bangladesh is Ms Siddiq's aunt, though an investigation by the UK Prime Minister's Standards Adviser Sir Laurie Magnus found no 'evidence of improprieties' on Ms Siddiq's part.
