The High Court (HC) on Sunday directed the authorities concerned to conduct inquiry into the allegations against S Alam Group owner Mohammad Saiful Alam regarding the transfer and investment of huge money abroad without permission from the Bangladesh Bank.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Bangladesh Financial Intelligent Unit (BFIU) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police have been asked to comply with the direction.
The organisations have to submit inquiry report to the HC within two months.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order on a Suo motu (on its own motion) move after considering a report published in a English daily on August 4 under the headline "S Alam's Aladdin's Lamp".
The HC wanted to know from the ACC whether the organization was aware of the allegations raised against the owner of S Alam Group, if it was aware, whether any action has been taken, if not, the ACC has been asked to investigate into the allegations and submit a report with it.
The published report has accused Saiful Alam and his wife Farzana Parveen of investing and transferring money through offshore banking to Singapore, British Virgin Islands and Cyprus. Bangladesh Bank and BFIU have been asked to report whether these two had offshore banking approvals, and if not, how they transferred the investment or money.
In addition, the court has asked the CID to inquire whether there has been money laundering in the case of investment or money transfer abroad.
Along with that, the HC has asked the Editor of The Daily Star and the concerned reporter to submit an affidavit on the objectivity of the published report to the court.
The court also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned of the government to explain as to why their failure and inaction to prevent the alleged activities of the S Alam Group owner should not be declared illegal.
It also wanted to know in the rule as to why a direction should not be given to take action against the persons involved with the allegations.
Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman on Sunday placed the newspaper report before the HC bench seeking necessary directives. Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan on behalf of the ACC and Deputy Attorney General Md Saifuddin Khaled representing the state were also present in the court.
According to the published report, S Alam Group owner Saiful Alam has built a business empire in Singapore worth at least about $1 billion, although there is no record of him taking any permission from Bangladesh Bank to invest or transfer any funds abroad.
The Bangladesh central bank has so far allowed 17 companies to invest outside the country, and this Chattogram-based business giant is not on that list.
Yet in Singapore, Alam bought at least two hotels, two homes, one retail space, and other properties over the last one decade, all the while seeking to remove his name from the paper trails, documents cited by the report show, also read the report.
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