EXCLUSIVE
Undercover sting reveals how the politician purchased lots of of abroad properties on a $13,000-a-year wage.
Bangladesh’s former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury spent greater than $500m on luxurious actual property in London, Dubai, and New York however didn’t declare his abroad belongings on his Bangladesh tax returns, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has revealed.
The I-Unit went undercover within the UK to analyze how the 55-year-old Chowdhury, from a robust household within the port metropolis of Chittagong, amassed a property empire regardless of a $12,000 annual restrict as a part of the nation’s foreign money legal guidelines on the quantity a citizen can take out of Bangladesh.
Dr Shahdeen Malik, an advocate of the Supreme Court docket of Bangladesh, informed Al Jazeera that the nation’s structure clearly states that politicians should declare their overseas belongings.
Authorities in Bangladesh have frozen his financial institution accounts and are actually investigating claims Chowdhury laundered tens of millions of {dollars} into the UK.
Chowdhury had been an in depth ally of eliminated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who fled Bangladesh in August after lots of have been killed as safety forces cracked down on pupil protests.
After Hasina’s departure, Bangladesh authorities launched an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption in her authorities.
The central financial institution of Bangladesh has since frozen the financial institution accounts of the previous Land Minister Chowdhury and his household, whereas the state’s Anti-Corruption Fee has began an investigation into allegations that he had illegally acquired “hundreds of crore taka” (lots of of tens of millions of {dollars}) and laundered it within the UK.
Our investigation into the #MinistersMillions uncovers how a robust Bangladesh politician constructed a half billion greenback property empire.
See inside Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s $14m London dwelling, the place he reveals his hidden wealth to our hidden cameras.
Watch: https://t.co/czUnKORUrN pic.twitter.com/rByTyzrcuU— Al Jazeera Investigations (@AJIunit) September 18, 2024
The I-Unit investigation revealed that Chowdhury was capable of purchase 360 properties within the UK alone since 2016.
Anti-money laundering legal guidelines think about high-ranking politicians and authorities officers to be a excessive corruption threat as their wealth could possibly be stolen state funds or bribes paid to acquire authorities contracts.
London property agent Ripon Mahmood launched Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters to a community of London advisers that helped Chowdhury to construct his property empire: Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP, which acted for him in refinancing greater than 100 property loans; Paresh Raja, who made lots of of loans via his firm Market Monetary Options and his different companies; and Rahul Marde, of Singaporean financial institution DBS, which additionally lent cash to the minister.
As a high-ranking politician, he would have been labeled as a politically uncovered individual (PEP) and would have required additional scrutiny and stringent checks when coping with property brokers, banks, lenders and legal professionals within the UK.
In response to the findings, Chowdhury informed Al Jazeera the funds used to purchase his abroad properties come from respectable companies outdoors Bangladesh which he has owned for years.
Chowdhury fled Bangladesh in August and claims to be the topic of a politically motivated “witch-hunt” in opposition to individuals related to the earlier authorities.
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP, Market Monetary Options, Paresh Raja, DBS Financial institution and Ripon Mahmood informed Al Jazeera that they had carried out sturdy anti-money laundering checks on Chowdhury. Additionally they stated his funds got here from respectable and longstanding companies within the United Arab Emirates, the USA and the UK, not Bangladesh.
The advisers say that the current occasions in Bangladesh was not data accessible to anybody conducting historic Anti-Cash Laundering or Know Your Buyer checks, that are customary procedures for monetary establishments.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit goes on the path of The Minister’s Thousands and thousands to learn the way Chowdhury constructed his half-a-billion-dollar property empire.
