UK crime agency freezes assets of disgraced Sheikh Hasina ally

EXCLUSIVE

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, erstwhile onshore minister, was featured successful Al Jazeera’s investigation, The Minister’s Millions.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has frozen properties successful the United Kingdom owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s erstwhile Minister of Land, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) tin reveal.

The determination follows ineligible requests from Bangladesh authorities to instrumentality enactment against assets owned by Chowdhury, a governmental state of deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the now-banned Awami League party. Chowdhury is nether probe by Bangladesh authorities for wealth laundering.

Last night, successful a connection to the I-Unit, an NCA spokesperson confirmed the freezing order: “We tin corroborate that the NCA has secured freezing orders against a fig of properties arsenic portion of an on-going civilian investigation.”

The spot frost means, successful effect, that the assets cannot beryllium sold by Chowdhury.

The enactment by the constabulary agency, often dubbed “Britain’s FBI”, coincided with this week’s sojourn to London by Bangladesh’s interim leader, Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Last year, Al Jazeera revealed Chowdhury, 56, owns much than 350 properties successful the UK. While the afloat grade of the NCA’s enactment is not yet understood, the I-Unit tin disclose that Chowdhury’s luxury location successful St John’s Wood, London, is portion of the plus freeze.

The home, bought for 11 cardinal pounds ($14.8m), was the country of concealed filming by undercover reporters from Al Jazeera’s I-Unit. Reporters met Chowdhury during a long-running probe into wealthiness that helium had accumulated portion helium was inactive a authorities minister.

During the meeting, Chowdhury talked expansively to reporters astir his planetary spot portfolio and revealed his sensation for costly suits and decorator “baby croc” leather shoes. He described his adjacent ties to the present deposed Sheikh Hasina, telling Al Jazeera’s journalists, “I americium similar her son, actually.”

“She knows I person a concern here,” helium besides told them.

The I-Unit revealed that Chowdhury, from a almighty household successful the larboard metropolis of Chittagong, amassed a spot empire contempt a $12,000 yearly bounds arsenic portion of the nation’s currency laws connected the magnitude a national tin instrumentality retired of Bangladesh. The probe uncovered that Chowdhury spent much than $500m connected existent property successful London, Dubai, and New York but did not state his overseas assets connected his Bangladesh taxation returns.

The undercover gathering was portion of the Al Jazeera documentary The Minister’s Millions, broadcast past October.

Chowdhury had been a adjacent state of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled Bangladesh successful August 2024 aft hundreds were killed arsenic information forces cracked down connected pupil protests.

After Hasina’s departure, Bangladesh authorities launched an probe into allegations of wide corruption successful her government.

Following the uprising and thoroughfare unit successful Bangladesh, the I-Unit tracked down Chowdhury to his London home, wherever helium could beryllium observed taking leisurely walks astir his exclusive neighbourhood, which includes Lord’s Cricket Ground.

In earlier statements to Al Jazeera, Chowdhury said the funds utilized to bargain his overseas properties came from morganatic businesses extracurricular Bangladesh, which helium had owned for years. The erstwhile curate claimed helium was the taxable of a politically motivated “witch-hunt” against him.