Britains major criminal offense agency has actually frozen UK home worth 170m coming from the previous land minister of Bangladesh amid a crackdown on former allies of Sheikh Hasina, the autocratic leader deposed in ins 2015 student-led revolution.The National Crime Agency (NCA) validated it had frozen assets coming from Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, who is amongst allies of Hasina whose large UK real estate portfolios have come under analysis by authorities in Dhaka examining alleged corruption.View image in fullscreenSaifuzzaman Chowdhury.Analysis of Land Registry documents suggests that all of Chowdhurys more than 300 homes go through asset freezing orders, preventing them from being offered or transferred.These consist of a luxury home in St Johns Wood, London, bought for 11m in 2022, and an apartment or condo block in Fitzrovia, purchased for 12.65 m a year earlier, part of a portfolio purchased for an estimated 170m.
Chowdhury is the third member of Bangladeshs previous elite to be targeted by the NCA with property freezes after 90m of property belonging to two members of the Rahman business dynasty were frozen last month.The action follows demands by the interim regime in Dhaka, whose leader, Muhammad Yunus, has actually been in London today for Britains assist in tracing allegedly taken assets.An NCA representative stated: We can validate that the NCA has actually secured freezing orders against a variety of properties as part of a continuous civil investigation.One of the homes impacted by the freeze was the scene of video footage secretly shot by Al Jazeera as part of an investigation into wealth that Chowdhury had collected while he was a federal government minister.During the meeting, Chowdhury discussed his international residential or commercial property portfolio, his taste for expensive matches and designer infant croc leather shoes and his nearness to Hasina, stating he was like her son.Hasina is the auntie of the UKs former Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, who resigned from the post in January after accepting the federal government was being hurt by the furore over her ties to her aunt.Siddiq has actually considering that asked for a conference with Yunus to go over allegations made in Bangladesh, which she denies, that she benefited from corruption.Ben Cowdock, the examinations lead at Transparency International, stated: These freezing orders present a major advance, nevertheless there still remains millions of pounds worth of UK residential or commercial property bought by individuals close to Sheikh Hasina that is at risk of being offered, moved offshore and placed beyond the reach of investigators.It is now crucial that UK police intensify efforts to examine and freeze these staying assets.
Where corruption is found, funds should be gone back to Bangladesh and support the interim federal governments efforts to seek accountability.The Guardian approached Chowdhury for remark.
He has formerly stated that his UK properties were obtained with the profits of genuine organization and that he is the topic of a politically inspired witch-hunt.