Ctg court orders ACC to seek Interpol red notices against ex-land minister, wife

A Chattogram court today asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to issue Interpol red notices against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and his wife Rukmila Zaman.

Acting Judge Md Abdur Rahman of the Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court passed the order following a petition filed by the anti-graft body.

Confirming the order, ACC lawyer Advocate Mokarram Hossain told The Daily Star, "Now the ACC will act accordingly."

Saifuzzaman fled the country on August 5 last year after the Awami League was ousted from power in the face of a student-led mass uprising.

On April 17 this year, a case was filed against him and his wife over allegations of a Tk 20 crore bank loan fraud.

The court has already ordered the confiscation of their immovable properties, including 343 properties in the United Kingdom, 228 in the United Arab Emirates, and nine in the United States, among other countries.

On March 5, the court also ordered the freezing of 39 bank accounts in their names, which together hold over Tk 5.26 crore.

The court also ordered the seizure of shares worth Tk 102 crore and 957 bighas of land owned by them.

On October 7, 2024, the court imposed a travel ban on the couple.

The ACC has filed several cases against them for allegedly embezzling crores of taka in bank loans taken under fake companies from United Commercial Bank (UCB).

On September 4, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) lodged a case with Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, accusing the couple of laundering around Tk 1,200 crore to the United Arab Emirates.

Most recently, on September 16, the ACC filed another case against them for allegedly misappropriating nearly Tk 21 crore from UCB using "false information".

The ACC is investigating the couple's illegal assets at home and abroad.