Ex-land minister Saifuzzaman, wife, 29 others sued for embezzling Tk25cr from UCB Ctg

The Anti-Corruption Commission has filed a case against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, his wife, and 29 others for allegedly embezzling and laundering Tk25 crore from United Commercial Bank (UCB) through loans taken in the names of Aramit Group employees using fake business entities.

According to the case filed by ACC Deputy Director Md Mashiur Rahman at the commission's Chattogram Integrated District Office-1 today (24 July), the accused colluded to open shell companies under the names of employees of the Aramit Group, a business owned by Saifuzzaman's family. The fake companies then applied for loans from UCB's Chattogram Port Branch under the guise of importing wheat and chickpeas.

Shubel Ahmed, deputy director of Chattogram Integreted District Office-1, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.  

ACC says the loan — approved in 2020 despite 17 negative observations from UCB's internal credit risk division — was never intended for genuine business purposes. Instead, it was laundered through multiple internal accounts linked to the fake firms.

Among the accused are — Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, his wife and former UCB chairperson Rukmila Zaman, his brother and former UCB director Asifuzzaman Chowdhury, and sister Roksana Zaman Chowdhury. Other former directors named in the case include Bashir Ahmed, Afroza Zaman, Syed Kamruzzaman, Md Shah Alam, Md Jonaid Shafiq, Aparup Chowdhury, Touhid Sipar Rafiquzzaman, Yunus Ahmed, Haji Abu Kalam, Nurul Islam Chowdhury, former chairman MA Sabur, and acting MD Arif Qadri.

Several UCB officials were also implicated, including former executives Mohammad Ekram Ullah, Abdul Hamid Chowdhury, Abdur Rouf Chowdhury, Ziaul Karim Khan, Mohammad Abdul Awal, Mir Mesbah Uddin Hossain, and Bazlur Rahman Babul.

The Aramit Group employees used as fake business owners include Mohammad Forman Ullah Chowdhury, Kazi Mohammad Dildar Alam, Mohammad Mishbahul Alam, Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, Mehammed Hossain Chowdhury, Yasinur Rahman, Yusuf Chowdhury, and Saiful Islam.

The FIR states that five fake trading entities—Vision Trading, Alpha Traders, Classic Trading, Model Trading, and Imperial Trading—were established between 2019 and 2020 using these employees' names. Vision Trading, for instance, opened an account in October 2019 and applied for a Tk25 crore loan in February 2020, supposedly for importing agricultural products. The loan was approved on 8 March 2020.

Despite serious red flags raised by UCB's credit committee, the bank's board approved the loan without proper due diligence. The money was then funnelled through accounts under the names of the four other fake firms and allegedly laundered.

Charges have been brought under sections 406, 409, 420, 471, and 109 of the Penal Code, as well as the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and the Money Laundering Prevention Act.