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Published : 10 Jul 2025, 09:48 PM
A Dhaka court has ordered the freezing of 64 bank accounts and shares of 10 companies in Singapore belonging to Mohammad Saiful Alam, chairman of the controversial industrial conglomerate S Alam Group, and his family.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is investigating allegations of laundering $1 billion in Singapore against Saiful, more commonly known as S Alam.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judges’ Court Acting Judge Ibrahim Mia issued the order on Thursday following an ACC application filed by Deputy Director Tahasin Monabil Haque, seeking the freezing of bank accounts and shares.
ACC spokesperson Md Tanzir Ahmed said the assets ordered to be frozen include 40 bank accounts of Saiful, six bank accounts of his wife Farzana Parveen, and shares in eight companies registered in their names.
The list also includes seven bank accounts and shares in one company belonging to their son Ashraful Alam, seven bank accounts and shares in one company of his brother Ahsanul Alam, one bank account held by another son, Asadul Alam Mahi, two bank accounts of Saiful’s brother-in-law, Ahmed Belal, and one bank account of Saiful's sister, Maimuna Khanam.
In the application, the same court ordered the freezing of 53 accounts in three banks belonging to S Alam on Wednesday.
On Jun 24, the court ordered the seizure of S Alam's two-storey house in Cyprus. An order was also issued to freeze the shares of 19 companies in the British Virgin Islands and six trust companies in Jersey belonging to the couple.
S Alam, the head of this Chattogram-based industrial group, is accused of “irregularities and looting” in the banking sector and money laundering.
For this reason, the businessman and his family were in the spotlight both before and after the fall of the Awami League government during the July Uprising.
Subsequently, Bangladesh Bank appointed new boards to the banks under S Alam’s control.
After assuming office, Governor Ahsan H Mansur informed journalists that S Alam had withdrawn a significant amount of money from these Sharia-based Islamic banks.
Allegations of Saiful’s involvement in money laundering in Singapore first surfaced in August 2023.
While an investigation was initiated, it did not progress.
On Aug 24, 2023, the High Court issued a status quo order regarding the allegations against Saiful and his wife, Farzana, in connection with the ACC probe.
On Feb 5, the Appellate Division dismissed the High Court’s suo motu rule issued five months earlier on the money laundering allegations.
After receiving a copy of that order, the ACC resumed the investigation. A letter was also sent to the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) seeking documents.
The anti-graft agency took the initiative to start an investigation in this regard on Aug 13, 2023, based on a report titled S Alam's Aladdin's Lamp published in the English daily newspaper Daily Star on Aug 4, 2023.
The report mentioned that Saiful built a “business empire worth at least one billion dollars” in Singapore without obtaining any permission from the Bangladesh Bank to invest or transfer money abroad.
In a discussion organised by the Debate for Democracy in November 2024, the organisation's Chairman Hassan Ahamed Chowdhury Kironsaid: “Recently, the owner of an industrial group has alleged that Bangladesh Bank is intimidating him by claiming him to be a citizen of Singapore. The head of the S Alam Group said that he can file an international arbitration case against Bangladesh for the baseless and provocative statements made against him by the governor of Bangladesh Bank.”
On Oct 7, 2024, the court imposed a travel ban on S Alam, his wife Farzana, and 12 family members.
On Jan 16, shares worth Tk 35.64 billion belonging to the S Alam family were frozen.
On Feb 3, an order was issued to seize 23.42 hectares of property valued at Tk 3.68 billion.
On Feb 12, shares worth Tk 51.09 billion were frozen.
On Feb 23, shares worth Tk 81.34 billion belonging to S Alam were frozen.
On Mar 10, the court ordered the seizure of 134.6 hectares of S Alam’s land.
On Apr 9, 12.04 hectares of his land were seized, and 374 bank accounts of his close associates were frozen.
Finally, on Apr 17, 1,360 bank accounts linked to S Alam and his interests were frozen.
