Dhaka Correspondent:
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recovered 23 bags of documents containing information and evidence of the huge illegal assets of former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. In addition to 582 assets in the UK, US, Dubai and Singapore, the agency has also found primary evidence of his vast assets in India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia.
The ACC seized these documents of the Aramit Group owned by Saifuzzaman in a secret raid at a house in Shikalbaha Union under Karnaphuli Police Station in Chittagong at 4:15 am on Saturday (September 20). ACC Deputy Director Akhtarul Islam confirmed the matter to the media on Sunday morning.
ACC sources said that 23 bags of documents were recovered in the presence of the acting chairman of the local union parishad, police and witnesses. The recovered documents contain many important information including acquisition of new assets abroad, ownership of houses, income from rent, maintenance expenses. In addition, clear signs of currency smuggling and money laundering were also found.
ACC officials said that there was an attempt to remove these documents before the raid. On September 16, the documents were removed from the Aramit Group factory in Kalurghat by Md. Ilias Talukder, the driver of UCBL Chairman Rukmila Zaman, who is close to the former minister, and taken to his own house. Later, on September 18, before the ACC raid, they were secretly removed to the house of Osman Talukder next door. From there, the ACC conducted a raid and recovered a large number of documents.
The ACC investigation task force said that the recovered documents will be reviewed step by step. Then, a detailed report will be submitted to the commission after verifying the evidence.
Earlier, on September 17, an ACC team conducted a raid and arrested Saifuzzaman’s close associates Utpal Pal and Abdul Aziz. Later, on September 18, they were arrested in a case of embezzlement and laundering of Tk 25 crore from United Commercial Bank (UCBL). The court sent them on a five-day remand.
ACC officials say this vast amount of documents will reveal the true picture of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s complex network of foreign assets and long-standing money laundering.