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From Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeira to London and New York, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury says his properties were bought using funds from his “legitimate businesses”
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury served as the land minister under Sheikh Hasina. (X)
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, a former minister from ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, is under the scanner of the current Mohammad Yunus-led interim Bangladesh government.
Why? Despite an annual salary of $13,000, he has amassed over 480+ properties across the world, including Dubai, London and the United States (US). Of these, over 300 properties are in the United Kingdom (UK), 142 in Dubai, and 15-25 in the US, according to an investigative report by the Financial Times.
WHO IS SAIFUZZAMAN CHOWDHURY?
Chowdhury served as the land minister under Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh founding father and first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hasina made a dramatic exit from Bangladesh in August after hundreds were killed during security forces crackdown on student protests. Chowdhury, too, fled Bangladesh in August.
Chowdhury had declared assets worth only $2.3 million in 2023 and had no reported foreign income in his last declared income tax return 2017.
Chowdhury’s father Akhtaruzzaman, a “confidant” of Hasina, was a founding member of the United Commercial Bank. He is accused in the murder of the founding chairman of United Commercial Bank, established in 1983.
Chowdhury’s property purchase gained pace in 2017 when he set up UK companies, but accelerated in 2019 when he became a government minister.
HIS KEY PROPERTIES
According to the Financial Times, Chowdhury owns properties in:
- Dubai’s Burj Khalifa district
- Palm Jumeirah archipelago
- London’s commuter towns
- Over 300 homes in the UK
- Singapore
- Malaysia
An FT analysis of leaked and official sources suggests that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the former land minister of Bangladesh, and his close family have owned — and largely continue to own — a much greater number of properties than previously reported. pic.twitter.com/F0YuCts44W— Financial Times (@FT) February 28, 2025
INSIDE HIS $14-MILLION LONDON HOME
Al-Jazeera conducted an undercover operation and even entered his $14-million home in London.
In response to the findings, Chowdhury told Al Jazeera the funds used to buy his overseas properties come from legitimate businesses outside Bangladesh which he has owned for years.
WHAT CHOWDHURY SAYS
Chowdhury told Al Jazeera that his properties were bought using funds from his legitimate businesses in the UK, the UAE and America, and that he is the victim of a political witch-hunt. “My father was very close to the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), actually, and I am also… She is my boss… She knows I have a business here (in Britain).”
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP, Market Financial Solutions, Paresh Raja, DBS Bank and Ripon Mahmood told Al Jazeera they had carried out robust anti-money laundering checks on Chowdhury. They also said his funds came from legitimate and longstanding businesses in the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the UK, not Bangladesh.
WHAT NEXT?
While Hasina is in exile in India, the Bangladesh authorities launched an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption in her government.
According to Al-Jazeera, the central bank of Bangladesh has since frozen the bank accounts of Chowdhury and his family, while the state’s Anti-Corruption Commission has started an investigation into allegations that he had illegally acquired “thousands of crore taka” (hundreds of millions of dollars) and laundered it in the UK.
