As Sheikh Hasina saw Dhaka fade from view, aboard a military helicopter, crowds were storming her palatial residence.Far listed below, about 1,000 Bangladeshis lay dead and many more hurt, the toll of a harsh crackdown by her security forces on student-led demonstrations, in some cases called the Monsoon Revolution.
Hasina was quickly in India, where she has actually remained in exile since August.Now, as Bangladesh reconstructs after her 16-year reign, attention has turned to recovering funds apparently lost to corruption by members of her deposed program and its allies cash the countrys interim leaders say is severely needed for its reconstruction.Bangladeshi authorities believe a handful of effective households and businesses connected to Hasinas Awami League party acquired billions of pounds by illicit ways, consisting of huge loans from state-owned banks that have actually never ever been paid back.
These funds, private investigators believe, may have been siphoned out of Bangladesh using the hundi system of money transfer popular in South Asia.The location for some of that cash has been, according to private investigators and the new routine, a familiar home for illicit funds: the UK.Dhakas interim federal government has actually enlisted help in locating about 13bn of properties, following a global paper trail they think leads to concealing places that include London property.Today, an examination by the Observer, in partnership with campaign group Transparency International, reveals Bangladeshi power gamers accused of corruption have collected a portfolio of British realty worth almost 400m and possibly much more.The network of about 350 residential or commercial properties varies from modest flats to estates in gated communities.
Their owners consist of UK and overseas business owned by some of Bangladeshs wealthiest and most influential business owners, in addition to 2 ex-ministers of the Hasina program.
The owners declare the accusations are politically inspired attacks by the new regime.Map showing Hasina allies residential or commercial properties around BritainThe findings raise questions about guidelines governing a phalanx of British firms including major banks, law office and estate representatives that made handsome fees for their services on multimillion-pound home transactions.
They have prompted concern among MPs and campaigners about the progress of efforts to fight Britains reputation as a magnet for unclean cash in specific whether guidelines on background checks and determining sources of customers funds are adequately robust.Now, Transparency International says, the UK deals with the very first test of its ambition to make London the anti-corruption capital of the world.The ministers land and the land ministerDays after Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh, Salman F Rahman was apprehended while likewise allegedly attempting to run away, this time by boat on Dhakas network of waterways.
Rahman was Hasinas advisor on private industry and financial investment.
Numerous in Bangladesh saw him as the most prominent figure in the regime.He now deals with accusations of money-laundering by the Dhaka-based Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a specialist investigative system.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), part of the reserve bank, has frozen his bank accounts and those of household members.Rahman is the co-founder and vice chair of Beximco, one of Bangladeshs largest conglomerates, with stretching interests in everything from garment manufacture to pharmaceuticals.Since the Awami League pertained to power, advantages that Beximco is reported to have actually delighted in include the refinancing of large loans from state-owned banks.
It even held a national monopoly on circulation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine to a nation of more than 170 million people.Now, however, its financial affairs including around 1bn of allegedly overdue loans are under investigation by the National Board of Revenue, the countrys tax authority.
Bangladeshs reserve bank has designated a custodian to oversee its finances.View image in fullscreenBangladeshs previous prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Photograph: Monirul Alam/EPABeximco is a household affair.
Both Rahmans child, Ahmed Shayan, and his nephew, Ahmed Shahryar, have held the position of president or run key divisions, according to LinkedIn and company publications.The duo are under investigation by the CID, while Ahmed Shayans assets in the nation have been frozen.Authorities tracing that cash have alighted on Grosvenor Square, in Londons Mayfair district, among the largest and most prestigious of the capitals 18th-century garden plazas.Members of the Rahman household own or hold stakes in 7 high-end homes there, most by means of companies based in overseas jurisdictions.
One, bought for 26.75 m in March 2022, is owned by means of a British Virgin Islands company by Ahmed Shayan Rahman.
He likewise owns another flat in the square that cost 35.5 m.Offshore business controlled by his cousin, Ahmed Sharyar, own an additional 4 homes worth a combined 23m, in the exact same square and nearby.Lawyers for Ahmed Shayan Rahman and Ahmed Shahryar Rahman stated the residential or commercial properties had actually been gotten in full compliance with financial guidelines, including money-laundering rules.They said the males had no info about Dhakas examination of Beximco which police examinations into the set appeared to connect to a civil conflict regarding export trade.
They also indicated that the interim Dhaka federal government was focusing its corruption examinations on political opponents.The reserve bank guv, Ahsan Mansur, disagreements this.
Its a genuine legal procedure versus those who have taken resources from Bangladesh, he told the Observer.
We want to get it back.Sources close to the interim government indicate the reality that officials who make up the authorities investigating the countrys lost properties are not merely enemies of the Awami League but come from a mixture of backgrounds, both in politics and civil society.But at least one other former Awami League figure, the previous land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, is under analysis.
His savings account have actually been frozen by the BFIU, while a court has actually bought the seizure of stationary possessions owned by him and relative.
He goes through a travel ban and Dhakas Anti-Corruption Commission is examining claims that he illegally got numerous millions of dollars.Investigators want to know how he and his family acquired a vast UK residential or commercial property portfolio of more than 300 titles, obtained for at least 160m, according to the UKs Land Registry.Ahmed Akbar Sobhan.
Photo: Bashundhara GroupReporters for Al Jazeera spotted Chowdhury outside one, a 14m London mansion, last month, however he has not reacted to requests for remark from the Observer, sent by email and letter.
He has actually stated that funds utilized to purchase his abroad homes had actually originated from legitimate services outside Bangladesh.Town, country and DubaiBut it is not simply former ministers who have actually collected an impressive portfolio of British home.
Too, did some of the organization figures who grew under the Awami Leagues reign.With its tree-lined private roads and professional security guards, Wentworth constructed around the golf course of the very same name is the best bolthole for a privacy-conscious multimillionaire.
The prestigious Surrey estate is home to a number of members of the Sobhan family, headed by patriarch Ahmed Akbar, called Shah Alam.Members of the household own two large residential or commercial properties here, acquired for a combined 13m and owned by means of companies signed up in the British Virgin Islands, Golden Oak Venture Limited and Kaliakra Holdings Limited.A 3rd, a French-style estate, owned by one of Shah Alams children, seemed under building when the Observer visited.The advancement itself is owned by means of an Isle of Man company called Cessnock Limited.
A contractor dealing with the task stresses its core value discretion.The Sobhan familys wealth comes from the Bashundhara Group, a conglomerate with interests covering realty, shipping, media and sport.
The household were initially investigated over corruption allegations in 2008 however later cleared.
The fall of the Hasina routine has set off a fresh probe, including examination of the alleged failure to pay back state loans.On 21 October, a Dhaka court provided a travel restriction versus 6 members of the Sobhan family, consisting of Shah Alam, while the BFIU has actually frozen their bank accounts.Dhaka authorities are thought to be scrutinising the family possessions, including home, expected to be a focus for a new possession recovery taskforce.
They believe, in spite of rigorous currency controls that avoid people from transferring more than $12,000 out of the nation, billions have been diverted abroad, consisting of through hubs such as Singapore and Dubai.Two family homes raise concerns about the role of those monetary centres as staging posts for cash putting into UK property.
One 10m mansion, on a gated estate in Londons Kensington, is owned by Shah Alams boy and the vice chairman of Bashundhara Group, Safwan Sobhan, through a company called Austino Limited.
Austino is registered in the British Virgin Islands however a Land Registry file documenting the purchase of the house directs correspondence to Atro International, a construction materials company based in Dubai.skip past newsletter promotionAnalysis and viewpoint on the weeks news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers Privacy Notice: Newsletters might consist of information about charities, online ads, and material moneyed by outside parties.
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We use Google reCaptcha to secure our site and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionA similar arrangement relates to a 5.6 m Chelsea waterfront home owned by Safwans brother, part of a portfolio generated at an expense of 28m.
The apartment or condo was acquired by Red Pine Trading, which is based in the British Virgin Islands but gives its address as a tower in Singapore.Safwan Sobhan, addressing on behalf of himself and his bro, said the family highly refute all claims of misdeed and will robustly safeguard ourselves versus these allegations.We consider the examinations to be lawfully weak and politically driven, he said, describing a House of Commons research study short from September 2024, which described issues about targeting of Hasinas allies and associates.View image in fullscreenPolice escort detainee Salman F Rahman to courtr in November.
Picture: Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto/Rex ShutterstockHe did not address questions about the function of Dubai and Singapore in the ownership of UK homes by means of BVI-registered companies.Down the road from Safwan Sobhans Kensington pad lie a clutch of properties owned by another magnate who is feeling the Dhaka heat.Nazrul Mazumder, the creator and chairman of another Bangladeshi conglomerate, Nassa Group, is under examination by the Dhaka CID for supposed cash laundering, while his assets have actually been frozen by the BFIU.Bangladeshi authorities are expected to examine how Mazumder and his member of the family moneyed the acquisition of 5 high-end properties in Kensington, south-west London, bought for a combined 38m.
Regional questions by the Observer indicate that most of the properties have been rented, making sure a consistent income for Mazumder, as he deals with charges in his home country.Sources near to Mazumder indicated that he turned down any tip that the homes were bought with funds gotten illicitly and would contest allegations made versus him in Bangladesh.The British connectionIn practice, the true scale of properties owned by Bangladeshi political leaders and company figures could be much higher than that identified by the Observer.As of 2023, the UK publishes information on overseas entities that hold land titles.
Ownership can be quickly concealed by merely covering the property-owning company inside another offshore vehicle, like a confidential trust.
This loophole is simply one issue shared by those who question the adequacy of the UKs transparency regime.Now, attention is now turning to the compliance rules governing City firms such as those associated with helping members and allies of the Hasina program manage their property wealth.MPs on the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for anti-corruption want British regulators to take a look at whether the background checks that UK firms are needed to do on property financiers are adequately robust.Nazrul Mazumder and a business in which he is a shareholder have actually borrowed from the British branch of Swiss bank UBS and from Coutts, the private bank that likewise serves the royal family, to fund his familys Kensington properties.Salman F Rahmans boy bought his 26.75 m Grosvenor Square pad utilizing a home mortgage offered by the UK branch of Credit Suisse, with the help of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
Both he and his cousin, Ahmed Shahryar, purchased homes with a mortgage from Barclays.
Another London law firm, Jaswal Johnston, has actually often worked on property deals for Rahman household members.Members of the Sobhan family have actually gained from the advice of Orbis London, the UK outpost of a property advisor with offices in Liechtenstein, Singapore and Switzerland.Chowdhurys large portfolio was acquired and managed with support from companies consisting of the estate representative Moving City, law office Charles Douglas and lender Market Financial Solutions.There are much more, too numerous to call.
All are required to carry out due diligence on their customers source of wealth, including boosted look at politically exposed persons (PEPs) such as Chowdhury and Salman F Rahman, and their families.We need more powerful anti-money-laundering supervision and enforcement to analyse the source of the wealth flowing through London, said Joe Powell MP, the APPGs chair.
I support all efforts by the Bangladesh authorities to trace assets they think might have been incorrectly acquired.The minister most carefully responsible for scrutinising and updating the guidelines that govern the UKs monetary sector is the City minister, Tulip Siddiq.
She also takes place to be the niece of Sheikh Hasina.View image in fullscreenWentworth golf club, at the heart of the Wentworth estate in Surrey.
Picture: Greg Balfour Evans/AlamyIn 2022, it emerged that Siddiqs mother, Sheikh Rehana the sister of Sheikh Hasinaand one of the Awami Leagues most powerful figures was living rent-free in a London property owned by Ahmed Shayan Rahman.There is no tip of misdeed by Siddiq, who is comprehended to have actually recused herself from any policymaking connecting to Bangladesh.This month, members of the APPG composed to a string of UK regulators and police bodies prompting them to check out whether British companies who assisted Saifuzzaman Chowdhury had done sufficient due diligence.
For their part, each firm stated it had.
The exact same MPs are contacting the British federal government to leave no stone unturned in helping Bangladesh recover funds required to restore the country.Campaigners state this will be an essential test of the cravings for reinforcing Londons ethical credentials.Transparency International warned that the UK was still seen as a premier location for those with suspicious wealth to invest.Duncan Hames, policy director of Transparency International, said the federal government should work closely with allies around the world and partners in Bangladesh to present a sanctions program which freezes suspicious possessions.
Rising to this minute is the first test of the new federal governments mentioned aspiration to end up being the anti-corruption capital of the world.Prof Mushtaq Khan, a professor at Soas University of London specialising in corruption, thinks the UK government need to think about diverting a few of the help budget plan into helping Bangladesh recuperate funds.Ultimately, he states, the recovery effort need to concentrate on honouring those who passed away in the Monsoon Revolution.
It was the biggest massacre in the history of Bangladesh, he said.
We cant let those individuals down.Barclays, Coutts, Charles Russell Speechlys and UBS, which owns Credit Suisse, decreased to comment.
Orbis London did not return ask for comment.
Market Financial Solutions, Charles Douglas Solicitors and Jaswal Johnston all said they had abided by all appropriate money-laundering regulations, consisting of carrying out stringent due diligence look at consumers source of wealth.Moving City said it had always carried out detailed and substantial due diligence checks in rigorous compliance with applicable policies and industry practice.At all product times, Moving City has actually comprehended that the funds utilized by Mr Chowdhury to purchase UK home originated from legitimate services in the UAE, United States and UK, said a representative for the firm.
This post first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com