The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court on Monday ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission to freeze 114 bank accounts of Towfika Karim, a former personal secretary of former law minister Anisul Huq.
The court also ordered the commission to freeze investments worth 35.3 crore baht (Tk聽133 crore) in seven companies in Thailand in the names of two sons of Sikder Group founder the late Zainul Haque Sikder.
The court鈥檚 judge, Md Sabbir Faiz, ordered the freezing of Towfika鈥檚 bank accounts following a petition submitted by the commission.
According to the petition, the accounts in question were used for illegal transactions amounting to over Tk聽653.36 crore.
The ACC sought the freeze order as part of its ongoing investigation into suspicious financial transactions in the accounts of Towfika.
In the petition, the ACC said that Towfika abused the former law minister鈥簊 power by arranging court bail for accused persons, engaging in recruitment trade and lobbying for transfers.
With the alleged illegal money, she bought flats, cars, and land and laundered funds abroad, it said.
Over Tk聽653.36 crore was deposited through the 114 accounts operated under her name, leaving a current balance of Tk 86.98 crore, said the ACC petition.
The court ordered the ACC to seize Sikder family鈥檚 investment in Thailand after the commission submitted a petition in this regard, said the ACC public relations officer Aktarul Islam.
Sikder Group鈥檚 two directors Ron Haque Sikder and Rick Haque Sikder, and Sikder Group and its entities are holders of the shares worth 35.3 crore baht in the seven companies in Thailand.
According to the petition, the seven companies registered in Thailand between April 2, 2004, and June 23, 2015, include Koi Restaurant Co Limited, Sikder Group Limited, Sikder Holdings Limited, R & R Restaurant Group Limited, Jirana Co Limited, JR Architects International Co Limited and Sikder & Garret Development Co Limited.
A joint investigation team has been formed and it is now conducting a probe into graft allegations related to the Sikder Group, a business group close to the Awami League regime ousted past year in a mass uprising.
The members of the Sikder family are accused of corruption, embezzlement of public funds, illegal lending in exchange for bribes and money laundering, reads the ACC petition.
The Sikder family that founded Sikder Group has business ventures in various sectors, including banking and insurance, power, economic zones, aviation, real estate, healthcare, and education.
Zainul Haque Sikder was the founding chairman of National Bank Limited. He died in February 2021. His son Ron Haque Sikder was a former director of NBL.
After the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, the board of directors of NBL was dissolved.
Before the fall of the AL regime, the ACC in April 2024 filed two cases against Ron Haque Sikder and his brother Rick Haque Sikder on charges of money laundering abroad.
Apart from this, the anti-graft agency on May 15 filed a case against 16 people, including four members of the Sikder family, on charges of embezzling Tk聽404 crore in stimulus loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sikder family鈥檚 Monowara Sikder, Parveen Haque Sikder, Ron Haque Sikder, and Rick Haque Sikder who were directors of National Bank, made accused in the case.
On September 10, the ACC filed another case against six members of the Sikder family and S Alam Group鈥檚 chairman Mohammad Saiful Alam and his wife, accusing them of embezzling Tk 150 crore in loans from First Security Islami Bank through forgery.
Earlier, on April 21, the court ordered the seizure of 100 acres of land owned by Ron Haque Sikder at the Purbachal New Town project.
