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Britain’s National Crime Agency has frozen more than 300 UK properties worth about £185mn linked to Bangladesh’s former land minister, as the south Asian country seeks to recover billions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by the deposed regime of Sheikh Hasina.
The NCA said on Thursday that it had frozen 342 properties with a combined purchase price of roughly £185mn after it was granted an order by the High Court in London on June 5.
The properties are owned by or linked to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, former land minister of Bangladesh, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The NCA freezing orders mark one of the largest-ever asset seizures carried out by the agency and include a high-end property in the St John’s Wood area of north London, the person said.
They also mark one of the highest-profile developments yet in Bangladesh leader Muhammad Yunus’s effort to track down foreign assets that his interim administration claims were bought with money taken out of the country under Sheikh Hasina, whose authoritarian rule was toppled last year.
“We can confirm that the NCA has secured freezing orders against a number of properties as part of an ongoing civil investigation,” the agency said on Thursday.
Freezing orders prevent a person from selling or disposing of an asset while an investigation is under way. The seizure was first reported by Al Jazeera.
Chowdhury, his lawyer and a family member, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Susannah Savage
