23 bags of documents of former land minister’s foreign wealth acquisition recovered
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recovered 23 bags of documents containing information about former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s illegal assets. In addition to 582 assets in the UK, US, Dubai and Singapore, the agency has found primary evidence of his huge illegal assets in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia.
The documents of the company owned by Saifuzzaman were recovered from a house in the Karnaphuli area of Chittagong late last Saturday (September 20). ACC Deputy Director Akhtarul Islam confirmed the matter on Sunday (September 21) morning.
ACC sources said that a raid was conducted at a house in Shikalbaha Union under Karnaphuli Police Station at 4:15 am on Saturday. 23 bags of documents of Aramit Group owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury were recovered from there. The documents were seized in the presence of the acting chairman of the local union parishad, police and other witnesses.
The ACC said that the recovered documents contain important information such as acquisition of new assets abroad, ownership of houses, income from rent and maintenance expenses. In addition, these documents contain clear evidence of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury laundering money abroad. The ACC has learned during the investigation that there was an attempt to remove these documents before the raid.
On September 16, UCBL Chairman Rukmila Zaman’s driver Md. Ilias Talukder removed the bags from the industrial establishment of Aramit Group located in Kalurghat and took them to his house. Later, before the ACC raid on September 18, he removed them to the house of Osman Talukder next door, from where the ACC recovered them.
The ACC investigation task force said that this huge amount of documents will be reviewed in phases. Then a report with specific information and evidence will be presented to the commission.
Earlier, on September 17, an ACC team conducted a raid and arrested Jabed’s close associates Utpal Pal and Abdul Aziz. On September 18, the court sent them on a five-day remand when they were produced in court in a case filed against them for embezzling and laundering Tk 250 million from United Commercial Bank (UCBL).
