The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday filed a case against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed and 27 others over the embezzlement of Tk聽15 crore from United Commercial Bank PLC (UCB), allegedly using fake business entities under the names of employees of his family-owned company.
ACC assistant director Md Mainuddin filed the case at the commission鈥檚 Chattogram District Integrated Office-1, said Subel Ahmed, deputy director of the Chattogram district office.
Among the accused are Saifuzzaman, his wife and former UCB chairperson Rukhmila Zaman, his brothers former directors Anisuzzaman Chowdhury and Asifuzzaman Chowdhury, and his sisters Roksana Zaman Chowdhury and Afroza Zaman.
Also named in the case are several UCB officials, including Abu Hena Md Fakhrul Islam, Moazzem Hossain Chowdhury, Ziaul Karim Khan, Mohammad Abdul Awal, Mir Mesbah Uddin Hossain, Abdul Hamid Chowdhury, Bazlul Ahmed Babul, former director Akhtar Matin Chowdhury, MA Sabur, Yunus Ahmed, Nurul Islam Chowdhury, Bashir Ahmed, Syed Kamruzzaman, Md Shah Alam, Jonaid Shafique, Konok Kanti Sen, Aporup Chowdhury, Tawhid Sipar Rafiquzzaman and former acting managing director Arif Qadri.
Additionally, three executives of Aramit Group 鈥� Mohammad Mishbahul Alam, Abdul Aziz and Shahriar Hossain 鈥� have been accused in the case.
According to the case statement, three shell companies 鈥� Model Trading, Imperial Trading and Reliable Trading 鈥� were opened in the names of Aramit Group staff. On November 15, 2020, an application for a Tk聽23 crore time loan was submitted to UCB鈥檚 Bandar Branch under the name of Reliable Trading, claiming it was for working capital.
The case statement said the loan approval process was riddled with fabrications. False information was provided about the company鈥檚 ownership, business operations, inventory, showroom, warehouse, and financial performance, it said.
Despite nine red flags raised by UCB鈥檚 credit risk management division, the bank鈥檚 board, in its 454th meeting on November 18, 2020, approved a Tk聽15 crore loan for 360 days.
On December 6, 2020, Tk聽15 crore was disbursed to Reliable Trading鈥檚 account at UCB鈥檚 Bandar branch. The following day, Tk 6.5 crore was transferred via eight pay orders to Model Trading鈥檚 account at UCB鈥檚 Kawran Bazar Branch in Dhaka. That amount was later used to repay outstanding liabilities of Aramit Cement, owned by Saifuzzaman and his wife, through six cheques at UCB鈥檚 Bahaddarhat Branch in Chattogram. Later, another Tk聽8.5 crore was moved to the account of Imperial Trading and subsequently used to repay previous loans taken by Aramit Thai Aluminum.
Earlier, on July 24, the anti-graft agency had filed a separate case accusing Saifuzzaman, his wife, and 29 others of misappropriating and laundering Tk聽25 crore from UCB using similar fraudulent mechanisms.
Saifuzzaman served as state minister for land from 2014 to 2018, and as land minister from 2019 to 2023.
In August past year, just before the fall of the Awami League government in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, he left for London with his family.
After Hasina鈥檚 ouster, Bangladesh authorities launched an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption in her government.
Saifuzzaman is under investigation by Bangladesh authorities for money laundering.
The United Kingdom鈥檚 National Crime Agency has recently frozen properties in the United Kingdom owned by Saifuzzaman, according to a report by Al Jazeera鈥檚 Investigative Unit on June 11.
The move follows legal requests from Bangladesh authorities to take action against assets owned by Saifuzzaman, a political ally of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, activities of which were recently banned until trial of its leaders and activists involved in atrocities during the July uprising.
