Tk 2.5b assets of Salman, his associates seized

Assets worth about Tk 2.50 billion belonging to Beximco Group owner Salman F Rahman and individuals and organisations linked to his interests have been seized, in a latest action against the beleaguered tycoon.

"The action is part of an investigation into allegations of trade-based money laundering," said the Financial Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday after the expropriation done by the unit.

According to CID sources, Salman F Rahman, vice-chairman of the group, through two companies -- Apollo Apparels Limited and Kanchpur Apparels Limited -- showed export of goods valued over US$26 million ($26,014,984) to RR Global Trading FZE, a company owned by his son, Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, located in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

These exports, conducted through 21 letters of credit (LCs) and sales contracts between 2020 and 2024, are alleged to have been "part of a money-laundering scheme".

Under court orders, the CID financial crime unit seized several properties in connection with the case, including approximately 2000 decimals of land and structures in the Dohar area of Dhaka district, his native home.

Additional assets seized include a flat in Dhaka's Gulshan 2, registered under Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, who is a named accused in the case, and a duplex flat on Road No 68/A, Gulshan.

Meanwhile, the CID has lodged some 17 cases against Salman F Rahman and his associates on charges of laundering around $83 million through trade-based money laundering to different countries.

Investigations into such charges are ongoing.

After the August-5th student-mass uprising that toppled the Sheikh Hasina government, Salman Rahman, the then private-sector adviser to the PM, was arrested and his assets were attached.

Earlier, the government found evidence of money laundering and 'willful loan defaults' against BEXIMCO (Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited) Group of companies and froze bank accounts of its 16 textile and garment units.

The suspension of bank accounts hampered the business activities of those companies, which in turn forced them to shut their operations.

Workers of the group's already-closed industries agitate for the reopening of factories and frozen bank accounts for factory operations.

Labour Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain, however, ruled out the possibility of immediate reopening of the factories.

"It cannot happen now," he said at a press conference at the secretariat on Thursday afternoon in response to demands made by some workers of the factories in a press briefing after a day of violence in and around the industries on the outskirts of the capital.

smjahangirfe@gamil.com