Ex-land minister admits to having properties abroad
Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury admitted today to having businesses and assets abroad but denied any involvement in corrupt practices related to acquiring those properties.
He, moreover, claimed that he did not take money from Bangladesh in making those assets.
Bloomberg News, on February 18 reported that Saifuzzaman has built up a UK real estate empire of more than 350 properties worth about £200 million. Moreover, he has assets in US. The Daily Star also ran a report based on its own investigation.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, presently chief of the parliamentary standing committee on the land ministry, came up with the statement at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club.
The lawmaker from Chattogram-13 said his father started doing business in London in 1967.
Saifuzzaman said he studied in the United States and started diung business there since 1991. Later, he expanded his business to London.
Regarding the concealment of his assets abroad in the affidavit submitted in the election commission before the January 7 national election, the ruling Awami League MP said that the affidavit was completely based on the income tax returns of Bangladesh.
"It (the affidavit) does not have a separate table for information on foreign assets. Why should I provide additional information?" he asked.
Saifuzzaman said he maintains separate income tax documentation for his assets and businesses abroad. And he has bank loans against those assets.
Regarding the huge expansion of business in London during his tenure as a minister, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that the coronavirus pandemic became an opportunity for him.
He said, as the property price crushed and the bank interest lowered, he took risks and made fortune.
Saifuzzaman claimed that he didn't even make a single taka through corruption while he was a minister.
He urged the authorities to form a high-level investigation committee to probe the allegations, if necessary.
The AL MP said that he would resign as a member of parliament if any corruption against him is proved.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said that he is a businessman first and then a politician.
He said that he made wealth in his own name knowingly because his children were not old enough to be owners.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has built up a UK real estate empire of more than 350 properties worth about £200 million, Bloomberg News reported on February 18.
The figures were based on a Bloomberg analysis of available Companies House corporate accounts in the UK, mortgage charges and HM Land Registry transactions.
Saifuzzaman's properties range from luxury apartments in central London to housing in Tower Hamlets -- home to the largest Bangladeshi community in England -- and student accommodation in Liverpool.
The international news agency headquartered in New York City analysed nearly 250 of his UK properties and found that almost 90 percent were classified as new-builds when bought, a valuable component in a UK housing market suffering severe shortages.
These transactions took place during a period when the UK government had committed to making foreign property ownership more transparent amid criticism of the ease with which Russian oligarchs were able to hide their wealth in the UK. This process became more urgent in the wake of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
His property deals could revive questions over whether UK's legislation to scrutinise such purchases involving politicians are effective, according to transparency advocates.
Bloomberg also identified at least five properties in Manhattan in the USA belonging to Saifuzzaman, bought for a total of about $6 million between 2018 and 2020, according to municipal property records.
Saifuzzaman has been re-elected as an MP, but lost his cabinet post after the January 7 national election. He has since become the chair of the parliamentary committee for land.
On December 29 last year, The Daily Star ran a report on Saifuzzaman's properties in the UK. Based on the newspaper's calculation from company filings publicly available on UK government websites, it found at least 260 properties in the UK, for which he has paid at least GBP 134.76 million or Tk 1,888 crore.