Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has built a property empire worth at least $675 million, with plush properties in the UK, the US and the UAE, according to the latest documentary of Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit. The investigation found Chowdhury, a close ally of the now deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, bought over 360 luxury properties in the UK worth $250 million, 54 properties in Dubai worth $190 million, nine properties in the US worth $20 million, said Zulkarnain Saer Khan, the lead investigator of the documentary titled 'The Minister's Millions'. However, Ripon Mahmood, managing director and chief executive officer of the London-based real estate agency Moving City that handled Chowdhury's property purchases in the UK and the UAE, told Al Jazeera's journalists that the Awami League politician's real estate empire is worth $675 million.
In the 25-minute video from Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit -- which in 2021 produced the documentary 'All the Prime Minister's Men' on the corruption by former army chief Aziz Ahmed and his family -- Chowdhury can be seen telling the undercover reporters that he also has properties in Singapore and Malaysia. "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)," Chowdhury told the undercover reporters who posed as property investors from China. Chowdhury is the eldest son of Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, the former president of the South Chittagong District unit of the Awami League.
The Al Jazeera journalists met Chowdhury last year in his $14 million London home where he bragged about spending thousands of dollars on hand-made crocodile shoes from the luxury department store Harrod's and bespoke suits from the Italian luxury menswear brand Canali. Chowdhury gave the undercover reporters a tour of his London house featuring a cinema, gym, private elevator and secure underground parking for his new Rolls-Royce. Questions hang over how Chowdhury managed the funds for his property purchase spree.
His property buying gained pace in 2017 when he set up UK companies but accelerated in 2019 when he was made the land minister. Strict currency laws restrict citizens from taking more than $12,000 a year out of Bangladesh, and tough government rules ban ministers from holding directorships or profiting from private businesses. Chowdhury's family owns Aramit Group, a manufacturer of construction materials, and has stakes in United Commercial Bank.
In the video, Mahmood is seen telling the journalists that he managed mortgages for Chowdhury's property purchases despite being a politically exposed person. "All we have is that he had trading between his Dubai and Bangladesh businesses -- we don't have hard evidence beyond that. The mortgage is easy to get once you have money in Dubai.
The bank lends to Chowdhury based on the property he buys in Dubai -- that acts as a guarantee for borrowing. Or, when sells the property in Dubai it can be used as a deposit," Khan told The Daily Star. In his response to Al Jazeera, Chowdhury said his properties were purchased with funds earned by his legitimate businesses in the UK, the UAE and the US, and that he is the victim of a political witch-hunt.
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