Travel ban issued against S Alam Group owner, his wife and family members

A Dhaka court today issued a travel ban on S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam, his wife Farzana Parveen and 11 members of his family in connection with allegations of laundering $1 billion to Singapore and several other countries.
The other members are S Alam’s brothers Mohammad Abudullah Hasan, Osman Goni, Abdus Samad, Rashedul Alam, Shahidul Alam and Morshedul Alam, and S Alam’s sons Ahsanul Alam and Ashraful Alam, Osman’s wife Farzana Begum and Samad’s wife Shahana Ferdous.
Judge Mohammed Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court in Dhaka passed the order after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director (Money Laundering) Noor-e-Alam, who is the head of the enquiry team, submitted an application in this regard.
ACC Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam moved the application on behalf of the anti-graft body.
In the application, the ACC official said that The Daily Star published a report headlined “S Alam’s Aladdin’s lamp” published on August 4 last year bringing allegations of laundering $1 billion to Singapore and several other countries.
“During the enquiry into the matter, it was learnt that S Alam and his family members may flee the country. Allegations of money laundering brought against them would be difficult if they go abroad,” said the ACC official in his application.
The judge also ordered the ACC to send an order sheet to the special superintendent of police (immigration) of the Special Branch for the next course of action.
Following the report published on August 4 last year, the HC had on August 6 issued a suo-moto rule directing an investigation into allegations that S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam and his wife are running offshore businesses without Bangladesh Bank’s permission.
The investigation by The Daily Star found that the group has built a business empire in Singapore worth at least around $1 billion, although there is no record of him taking any permission from Bangladesh Bank (BB) 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 on that list. Yet 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 show.