Bangladesh’s former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury spent more than $500 million on luxury real estate in London, Dubai, San Francisco, Singapore, Malaysia, New Jersey and New York but did not declare his overseas assets on his Bangladesh tax returns, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has revealed.
Al Jazeera exposed Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s money laundering business from Bangladesh’s UCBL bank and Singaporean DBS banks.
Mr Chowdhury also admitted to AL Jazeera I-unit that he handed US dollars in cash to a Dubai-based broker in Bangladesh and Singapore. The broker then transferred the funds from Dubai to London and New York. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina knew about Mr Chowdhury’s dodgy deals in London and Dhaka. Hasina never prevented Chowdhury from doing wrong and laundering money.
The I-Unit went undercover in the UK to investigate how the 55-year-old Chowdhury, from a powerful family in the port city of Chittagong, amassed a property empire despite a $12,000 annual limit as part of the nation’s currency laws on the amount a citizen can take out of Bangladesh. As per the Bangladesh ministerial award, Mr Chowdhury was salaried at $13,000 per year.
Former land minister of the recently ousted Awami League government Saifuzzaman Chowdhury owns 360 houses in the UK alone. Most of these houses were purchased from the renowned builder group The Berkeley Group. The market price of these houses stands at $500 million. The former minister also has properties in the USA and Dubai.
Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed and his wife Rukhmila Zaman Chowdhury have amassed enormous wealth and property in the United States and Dubai. They have vast sums of money deposited in foreign banks. Neither Saifuzzaman nor any family member has taken permission from Bangladesh Bank to take money abroad, which has raised questions about this huge wealth amassed overseas.
This information was mentioned in an investigative report aired by Qatar-based international media Al Jazeera. The report, titled ‘The Minister’s Millions,’ was published on Wednesday night. Al Jazeera’s investigative team, ‘I Unit,’ ran the investigation.
As property investors, Al Jazeera journalists met the minister last year in his $14 million London home. He bragged about spending thousands of dollars on hand-made crocodile shoes and tailored Italian suits from top London stores.
The politician gave undercover reporters a tour of his London house, which features a cinema, gym, private elevator, and secure underground parking for his new Rolls-Royce.
The report said the former land minister purchased at least 54 properties in Dubai in 2020. He also has assets in the US. He owns nine lavish apartments there. Five of these houses are in prime locations in New York, including Manhattan, and four are in New Jersey. However, Saifuzzaman hid the information of having such huge assets abroad in his election affidavit and tax files.
Al Jazeera found that Ripon Mahmud of Chattogram handles the assets on behalf of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury in London. Saifuzzaman took a loan from Singapore’s Bank DBS. Rahul Mart, an employee of the Bank, also opened up about the enormous properties owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. There are also indications about how he built so much wealth abroad.
Besides, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury himself indicated how much he owns and shed light on his personal life. He admitted that the then-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, knew about his business abroad.
He told the ‘I Unit’, “She (Sheikh Hasina) knew I had business here.”
The investigation reveals that Saifuzzaman was a very close and trusted person of the former prime minister. In 2014, Saifuzzaman became a lawmaker and a state minister. In 2019, Sheikh Hasina made him land minister.
Saifuzzaman told Al Jazeera, “My father was very close to the prime minister. So am I.”
The former land minister disclosed his lavish lifestyle before the Al Jazeera investigative team.
Describing the shoes he was wearing, he said, “It’s tailor-made. I also ordered custom-made shoes from Harrods. It takes four months. I bought the shoes for 3,000 pounds.”
He further said the shoes are made of ostriche skin and crocodile skin. The boots made entirely of crocodile skins cost 6,000 pounds. And shoes made of half crocodile and half calfskin cost three thousand pounds. The shoes are very comfortable. It takes four months to make these shoes.
He also said that he has a penchant for suits. He spends around 200,000-300,000 pounds on suits every time he goes to London. He prefers Super 200 or Super 180 suits. He buys them from Canali on Bond Street in London. He chooses the suits at the shop, and then the company delivers them to his home.
The Al Jazeera report says the I Unit followed Saifuzzaman long before the upheaval that ousted the Awami League government.
The report says, “A Bangladeshi minister on a USD 13,000 salary has a master property empire in Britain. The I Unit set up an undercover team to investigate the allegations.”
The I Unit found evidence of a remarkable amount of assets owned by Saifuzzaman. His business and shares in UCB Bank are the source of his wealth in Bangladesh.
According to Bangladesh’s monetary policy, citizens are not permitted to spend more than $12,000 abroad in a year. This policy is intended to protect Bangladesh’s economy.
Shaheen Malik, a lawyer for the Supreme Court in Bangladesh, said the country’s foreign exchange reserves had depleted significantly. Under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, taking money abroad without the permission of the Bangladesh Bank is considered an offence.
According to the Al-Jazeera report, Saifuzzaman set up several companies to buy houses from developers in London. Between 2016 and 2021, he purchased 265 homes in the UK, mostly bought from top developers like the Berkeley Group.
In 2021, he acquired more properties in London for $16 million, and most properties have been rented out. In 2020 alone, he purchased 89 houses. His total number of houses now stands at 360, with a market value of $320 million.
The report noted that politically exposed persons (PEPs) are expected to face strict scrutiny in the UK. An investigative team from Al-Jazeera visited Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s property to find out how he passed the scrutiny.
His associate Ripon Mahmud said, “Our client has over 300 homes in London alone. He comes to London, buys a few homes, and then jets off. During lockdown, he spent £200 million just on new homes in the UK.”
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said he bought all the properties in London through Ripon. “He is my main guy… and he is my brother. I do not deal with anybody else. I trust him.
Regarding Ripon Mahmud, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that Ripon had facilitated the purchase of all his properties in London and the UK. Ripon is his key associate and also his ‘brother’.
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