Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed. File Photo

CHATTOGRAM, July 24, 2025 (BSS)- Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed and his wife, along with 31 others, for allegedly embezzling and laundering Tk 25 crore from United Commercial Bank (UCBL). 

On Thursday, ACC head office deputy director Md. Mashiur Rahman filed the case at Chattogram District Office-1. 
 
According the case diary an account was opened in the name of 'Vision Trading' at the Chattogram Port unit of UCBL Bank on October 13, 2019. 
 
On February 13, 2020, the enterprise sought a 'time loan' of Tk 25 crore (repayable within 180 days) on the pretext of importing wheat, gram, turmeric and peas. 
 
Although the credit committee of the head office, consisting of the bank's Corporate Banking Division and Credit Risk Management Division, raised 17 negative observations on the loan, the bank's board of directors approved a loan of Tk 25 crore on March 8, 2020, without any verification. 
 
The statement further states that the accused, in collusion with each other, opened five fictitious companies named Vision Trading, Alpha Traders, Classic Trading, Model Trading and Imperial Trading in the names of officers and employees of the Aramit Group. Then, separate accounts were opened in the names of those companies in UCBL Bank and Tk 25 crore was transferred to four different accounts and laundered 
 
The accused in the complaint are former minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed, 57, his wife Rukmila Zaman, 46, former chairman of UCBL Bank, Jabed's brother and former director Asifuzzaman Chowdhury, 46, sister Roksana Zaman Chowdhury , 56, former director Bashir Ahmed, 55, Afroza Zaman, 48, Syed Kamruzzaman, 61, Md. Shah Alam, 62, Md. Jonaid Shafiq, 64, Aparup Chowdhury, 65, Touhid Sipar Rafiquzzaman, 66, Yunus Ahmed, 79, Haji Abu Kalam, 79, Nurul Islam Chowdhury, 62, former chairman MA Sabur, 77, former acting managing director Arif Qadri, 64, former officials Mohammad Ekram Ullah,,51, Abdul Hamid Chowdhury, 50, Abdur Rouf Chowdhury, Ziaul Karim Khan, 46, Mohammad Abdul Awal, 58, Mir Mesbah Uddin Hossain, 62, Bazl Ahmed Babul, 56, and Aramit Group officials Mohammad Farman Ullah Chowdhury, 51, Kazi Mohammad Dildar Alam, 66, Mohammad Misbahul Alam, 50, Abdul Aziz, 39, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, 54, Mehmood Hossain Chowdhury, 48, Yasinur Rahman,  43, Yusuf Chowdhury, 45, and Saiful Islam, 45.
 
 According to the ACC's allegations, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and his family members and related officials colluded with each other to obtain bank loans using fake documents and fictitious organizations and embezzled and smuggled them. It is worth noting that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, son of the late Awami League leader of Chattogram, Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, was a former member of parliament from Chittagong-13 constituency. He served as the State Minister for Land in the first term of the Awami League government and as a full minister in the cabinet in the next term.