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Published : 28 May 2026, 08:46 PM
A Cypriot court has frozen a luxury two-storey villa in Limassol’s Parekklisia owned by Bangladeshi businessman and S Alam Group chief Mohammed Saiful Alam and his wife.
The move comes as part of an ongoing cross-border investigation into alleged large-scale bank fraud and money laundering, CyprusMail reported on Thursday.
According to CyprusMail, the Nicosia district court issued the freezing order on May 19 following an application by Cyprus’s anti-money laundering unit (Mokas), acting under a mutual legal assistance request submitted by Bangladeshi authorities.
It forms part of a widening criminal inquiry into suspected financial offences, including alleged fraudulent lending and illicit asset transfers.
Saiful Alam, widely known as S Alam, has denied any wrongdoing, according to CyprusMail.
Founded by him, the S Alam Group has grown into one of Bangladesh’s largest and most “controversial” business conglomerates.
Starting in transport and sugar refining, the group later expanded into banking, insurance, media, power and hospitality sectors.
Several cases have been filed against Alam over allegations of bank fraud, money laundering and other financial irregularities during the tenure of the ousted Awami League government.
Courts have also ordered the freezing of bank accounts belonging to him, his family members, and associated individuals and entities, alongside the seizure of assets.
Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on Aug 5, 2024, Alam and his family have not been seen in public.
Reports have also emerged that he has applied to renounce Bangladeshi citizenship.
Most recently, on May 21, a Chattogram financial loan court sentenced Alam and 10 others to five months in prison for failing to repay a loan of Tk 844.9 million taken from Islami Bank.
As the suspects remain absconding, arrest warrants have also been issued.
Alam obtained Cypriot citizenship in 2016 through the country’s investor citizenship programme, commonly referred to as the “golden passport scheme”, it added.
However, his citizenship was later revoked by the Cypriot authorities following information shared by Bangladesh, the report said.
Bangladeshi investigators, as cited in documents submitted to Cypriot authorities, are examining allegations covering a network of companies and financial transactions between 2009 and 2024.
The inquiry includes claims of fraudulent lending, unlawful accumulation of assets and money laundering across multiple jurisdictions.
The investigation, however, extends far beyond that case.
According to the request sent to Cyprus, authorities in Dhaka are also probing whether companies linked to Alam obtained substantial loans from several financial institutions, including Islami Bank Bangladesh and First Security Islami Bank, many of which later defaulted.
Investigators are now examining whether funds drawn from those facilities were transferred abroad through a complex web of companies and financial structures operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Bangladesh’s central bank governor has previously stated that more than €8 billion may have been siphoned from the country in connection with the wider allegations, with potential assets traced to Cyprus, Singapore and other jurisdictions.
Part of the probe also involves ACLARE International, a Cyprus-registered company acquired by Alam in 2016.
Authorities are examining whether the firm was used in financial transactions linked to the alleged movement of funds, CyprusMail reported.
Court filings further reference a wider corporate and trust network spanning Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands and Jersey, with investigators seeking to establish ownership structures and financial flows linked to those entities.
Alam, through international law firm Quinn Emanuel, has maintained that his investments were financed through legitimate foreign sources and that the actions taken against him are “unjustified”, according to CyprusMail.
He has also initiated proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), arguing that measures taken against his assets, including freezing orders, violate international investment protection agreements.
The Cypriot government has previously terminated the citizenship granted to Alam under the now-scrapped golden passport scheme.
He also does not feature in the findings of the Nikolatos Committee, which had reviewed the operation of the programme.
