UK crime agency freezes assets of disgraced Sheikh Hasina ally

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, former land minister, was featured in Al Jazeera’s investigation, The Minister’s Millions.

The Minister's Millions I Al Jazeera Investigations

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has frozen properties in the United Kingdom owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s former Minister of Land, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) can reveal.

The move follows legal requests from Bangladesh authorities to take action against assets owned by Chowdhury, a political ally of deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the now-banned Awami League party. Chowdhury is under investigation by Bangladesh authorities for money laundering.

Last night, in a statement to the I-Unit, an NCA spokesperson confirmed the freezing order: “We can confirm that the NCA has secured freezing orders against a number of properties as part of an on-going civil investigation.”