Status quo on probe against S Alam Group

The Appellate Division (AD) on Wednesday ordered maintaining status quo until January 8, 2024 upon a High Court (HC) order that asked the authorities concerned to conduct inquiry into the allegations against S Alam Group owner Mohammad Saiful Alam regarding transfer and investment of a huge amount of money abroad.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court AD, passed the order after hearing a petition - filed by the S Alam Group seeking a stay on the HC order. The Chamber Judge also sent the matter to the regular AD bench for detailed hearing on that day.
Lawyers Ajmalul Hossain, Ahsanul Karim, Sayed Ahmed Raza and others appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the S Alam Group, while lawyer Khurshid Alam represented the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
On August 21, Saiful Alam and his wife Farzana Parveen submitted a petition to the AD, seeking stay on the HC order.
On August 6, the HC directed the authorities concerned to probe into the allegations against the Chattogram-based business giant regarding transfer and investment of a huge amount of money abroad without permission from the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
The ACC, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligent Unit (BFIU), and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were asked to comply with the direction. The organisations were asked 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 an English daily on August 4 under the headline "S Alam's Aladdin's Lamp". SC lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman placed the report before the HC bench, seeking necessary directives.
According to the report, Saiful Alam formed a business empire, worth at least about US$1.0 billion, in Singapore - although there was no record of his taking any permission from the BB to invest or transfer any funds abroad.
The HC wanted to know from the ACC whether the organisation was aware of the allegations raised against the S Alam Group owner. If it was aware, whether any action was taken; and if not, the ACC was asked to inquire into the allegations and submit a report.
The published report accused S Alam and his wife Farzana Parveen of investing and transferring money through offshore banking to Singapore, British Virgin Islands and Cyprus.
The BB and the BFIU were asked to report whether these two had offshore banking approvals; and if not, how they transferred money or made investment. In addition, the court asked the CID to inquire whether there was money laundering in the case of investment or money transfer abroad.
The court also issued a rule asking the government authorities concerned 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 actions against the persons involved with the allegations.
The BB so far allowed 17 companies to invest outside the country, and the Chattogram-based business giant was not on that list.

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