Court orders seizure on Asaduzzaman Noor’s flats, land and bank accounts

The Awami League leader owns two flats in Ramna, and one each in Gulshan and Moghbazar

A Dhaka court has ordered the seizure of four flats and 0.12 hectares of land belonging to actor and former minister Asaduzzaman Noor, along with freezing of his 16 bank accounts.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Sabbir Faiz issued the order following a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

According to the petition, Noor’s wealth could not be fully identified, but the assets detected in his name needed to be frozen to prevent transfer or disposal.

ACC spokesman Akhtarul Islam said among the three flats, two in Ramna were valued at Tk 13.39 million and Tk 32.45 million respectively, while the one in Gulshan was valued at Tk 43.67 million, and the one in Moghbazar at Tk 5.27 million.

In addition, a 0.12 hectare plot at Purbachal New Town Project in Narayanganj is worth Tk 3.36 million. His 16 bank accounts held Tk 139.15 million.

Assistant Director Ferdous Rahman sought the seizure and freezing orders on the ACC’s behalf.

Noor, who served as cultural affairs minister under the Awami League government, was arrested on Sept 15, 2024. He has since remained in prison and faces trial over killings during the July Uprising.

On Jul 30, the ACC prosecuted him for allegedly acquiring Tk 53.7 million in illegal assets and laundering more than Tk 1.58 billion.

The case alleged that Noor abused his power to amass assets beyond known sources of income and retained them under his control. It also cited Tk 1.58 billion in “suspicious transactions” in 19 bank accounts, involving transfer, conversion and movement of funds, which are offences under money laundering prevention and anti-corruption laws.

According to the ACC case data, Tk 857.2 million was deposited into Noor’s bank accounts, while Tk 730.5 million was withdrawn, with the source of these transactions remaining “ambiguous”.