A Dhaka court on Monday issued a travel ban on S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam, his wife Farzana Parveen and 11 members of his family over allegations of laundering US$ 1.0 billion to Singapore and several other countries.
The other accused are S Alam's brothers Mohammad Abudullah Hasan, Osman Goni, Abdus Samad, Rashedul Alam, Shahidul Alam and Morshedul Alam, S Alam's sons Ahsanul Alam and Ashraful Alam, Osman's wife Farzana Begum, Samad's wife Shahana Ferdous, and one Miskat Ahmed.
The court also issued travel ban on former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and his wife Rukhmila Zaman over corruption charges, and on Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, former chairman of Padma Bank, in connection with corruption allegations against him.
Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka, Mohammed Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain, passed the orders after hearing three separate petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Earlier on the day, ACC Deputy Director (Money Laundering) Noor-e-Alam, who is the head of a team formed to inquire the allegations against S Alam and his family members, submitted an application to the court seeking travel ban on them. Upon hearing, the court passed the order.
On the other hand, ACC Deputy Director Masudur Rahman (money laundering) placed a petition to issue a travel ban on Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat and Deputy Director Ram Prasad Mondal placed another petition for travel ban on former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and his wife Rukhmila Zaman.
ACC Public Prosecutors Mir Ahmed Ali Salam and Mahmud Hossain Jahangir moved the applications on behalf of the anti-graft body.
Mir Ahmed Ali Salam told the reporters that ACC is conducting inquiry into the money laundering allegations against S Alam Group owner Mohammad Saiful Alam and his family members. That is why an application was placed to issue travel ban on 13 persons including S Alam and his wife. Upon hearing the application, the court issued the travel ban.
In another application, ACC official said Sarafat has been accused of acquiring huge sums of money illegally through various irregularities and corruption, including abuse of power and bribery, and laundering the money to Canada.
Moreover, he published advertisements in different national dailies from an unknown place to defend himself.
"Sarafat may flee the country at any time which will hamper the investigation. So, a travel ban is needed to prevent him from going abroad," also read the application.
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