Probe into offshore business: S Alam Group seeks stay on HC order

A petition has been filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on a High Court order that asked the authorities concerned to probe allegations against the owner of S Alam Group of amassing huge amounts of properties abroad without Bangladesh Bank's permission.

There are allegations that Mohammed Saiful Alam, owner of S Alam Group, has many properties abroad, including a business empire worth almost $1 billion in Singapore.

Mohammad Saiful Alam and his wife Farzana Parveen submitted the petition to the Appellate Division today through their lawyers.

Justice M Enayetur Rahim, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, set Wednesday for hearing the petition, Muhammad Saifullah Mamun, a lawyer for the petitioners, told The Daily Star.

Senior lawyers Ajmalul Hossain and Ahsanul Karim appeared for S Alam Group while Mintu Kumar Mondal stood for Anti-Corruption Commission during the proceedings.

On August 6, the HC ordered the ACC, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police to conduct inquiry into allegations disclosed in a report by The Daily Star published on August 4.

The HC, on that day, asked for their reports as early as possible preferably in two months. The court also asked The Daily Star to submit the documents based on which the report was prepared to this court in two months.

Governor of Bangladesh Bank was directed to provide all sorts of cooperation and assistance to the respondents concerned if required and asked for.

According to The Daily Star investigative report, S Alam Group owner Saiful Alam has built a business empire in Singapore worth about $1 billion, although there is no record of him taking any permission from Bangladesh Bank to invest or transfer any funds abroad.

The Bangladesh central bank has so far allowed 17 companies to invest outside the country, and this Chattogram-based business giant is not one of them.

In Singapore, Alam bought at least two hotels, two homes, one retail space, and other properties over the last one decade, all the while seeking to remove his name from the paper trails, documents cited by the report show.