Tk 51.09b shares of S Alam, family

A Dhaka court Wednesday ordered freeze on over 4.37 billion shares of 42 companies, worth Tk 51.09 billion, owned by beleaguered S Alam Group chairman Mohammad Saiful Alam and his family members.

Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court Md Zakir Hossain passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as part of its anti-graft crackdown in the post-uprising period.

Earlier in the day, ACC Deputy Director Md Abu Sayeed, who is the head of enquiry team, submitted an application in this regard. ACC Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam moved the applications on behalf of the anti-graft body.

Official of the ACC in his application said, "An attempt has been made to transfer more than 4.37 billion shares of 42 companies owned by Saiful Islam and his family members. Value of these shares is Tk 51.09 billion."

Upon holding hearing on the petition, the court ordered freeze on the shares.

Earlier on January 14 this year, the same court ordered the relevant bodies of the government to freeze 87 bank accounts and confiscate immovable property worth Tk 2.00 billion owned by Mohammed Saiful Alam, his wife Farzana Parveen and 16 family members.

On January 16, the court ordered freezing more than 321.0 million shares of 24 different companies owned by Mohammad Saiful Alam and his family members. The nominal value of these shares is Tk 35.63 billion, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission. The same court on January 30 ordered the expropriation of immoveable property worth Tk 3.68 billion owned by Mohammad Saiful Alam and his family members.

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