Bangladeshis linked to Hasina appear to have made UK property transactions in past year: Guardian

Highlights 

• NCA froze £90m in properties linked to Salman F Rahman's family in May
• In June, over £170m in assets linked to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury were also frozen
• Bangladesh seeks more UK property freezes
• Bashundhara's Sobhan family under money laundering probe
• 20 UK property deals linked to suspects recorded

Several Bangladeshis who are under scrutiny in Dhaka appear to have either sold, transferred or refinanced UK property since the beginning of last year's mass uprising, which toppled the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.

The transactions have raised questions about the freedom with which those under suspicion have continued to conduct business in London, as well as the due diligence performed by UK law firms and consultants who helped facilitate the transactions, an investigation by The Guardian and Transparency International has found.

The Guardian reported that Bangladeshi investigators are cooperating with the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to trace and recover assets suspected of having been acquired through illicit means.

In May, the NCA froze £90 million worth of properties in the United Kingdom connected to members of the family of Salman F Rahman, the former private industry adviser to the ousted prime minister Hasina.

This action followed media reports revealing their ownership of a substantial UK property portfolio, says the Guardian..

Subsequently, in June, the NCA took similar steps against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. More than £170 million in assets, including over 300 UK-based properties, were frozen amid ongoing inquiries into his financial dealings during his time in office.

Leading figures in Bangladesh's interim government are now calling on Britain to err on the side of caution by freezing more UK property assets while the authorities in Dhaka complete their investigations.

London property could now play a starring role in what has been billed by some as a long overdue anti-corruption purge – but by others as a politically motivated witch-hunt.

From Dhaka to the Dorchester

The London five-star hotel, The Dorchester, where rooms cost upwards of £800 a night, may not seem the most appropriate base from which to take aim at a decadent elite.

Yet the Mayfair hotel's plush rooms served as the temporary home of a large Bangladeshi government delegation that visited in early June, led by the interim premier, Muhammad Yunus, on a mission to forge stronger ties with the UK.

London is of particular importance to Bangladesh, due in part to the huge diaspora in the capital, but also to the UK's offer of support to track assets that investigators in Dhaka think may have been obtained using laundered money.

Ahsan Mansur, the central bank governor who is leading his country's efforts to repatriate assets, wants more measures such as those issued against Chowdhury and the Rahmans, reports The Guardian.

"We are aware of efforts to liquidate assets, and we would like the UK government to consider more freezing orders," Mansur said.

Measures to block transactions would, he said, "give us hope of following due process to repatriate assets".

His call was echoed by the chair of Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Last month, Mohammad Abdul Momen said he had asked the NCA to consider freezing the assets of several individuals, amid a flurry of post-revolutionary property market activity.

To freeze or not to freeze

Disclosures to the UK Land Registry show that at least 20 "applications for dealing" have been submitted in the past year in relation to property owned by figures under scrutiny by Dhaka. Such documents typically indicate a sale, transfer or change to a mortgage.

Three relate to £24.5m worth of property ultimately owned by members of the Sobhan family, the powerful dynasty behind the multibillion-pound Bashundhara business group, a conglomerate that spans cement to media, says The Guardian.

One, a four-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge, has been the subject of two recent transactions, the purpose of which is unclear. Until April last year, it was owned directly by Sayem Sobhan Anvir, Bashundhara's managing director, via a company based in the United Arab Emirates.

Sobhan is among several family members under investigation by the ACC for allegations including money laundering, the Guardian understands.

In April, the property was transferred – apparently free of charge – to a UK business called Brookview Heights Ltd. Brookview is owned by a director of Orbis London, a real estate advisory firm with offices in Liechtenstein and Singapore that has acted for the Sobhans on property transactions in the past.

The London home appears to have subsequently been sold for £7.35m to a newly formed company, whose sole director is an accountant with no online profile. The accountant is registered as the owner and director of multiple other companies that appear to be special-purpose vehicles for multimillion-pound London properties.

Land Registry records show that UK law firms have made two more applications for dealing on properties owned by another member of the Sobhan family, Shafiat, including an £8m mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey.

A family member did not return a request for comment but has previously said that the family deny "all allegations of wrongdoing and will robustly defend ourselves against these allegations".

Members of the Sobhan family are among a clutch of UK property owners whose assets the ACC has asked the NCA to consider freezing.