Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed. File Photo

CHATTOGRAM, Sept 22, 2025 (BSS) - Utpal and Aziz, two alleged associates of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, today made confessional statements before a magistrate court here admitting their involvement in laundering money abroad in favor of their boss Javed.

A team of the Anti-Corruption Commission arrested Utpal Paul and Abdul Aziz from the city’s Agrabad area on September 17 last and placed them on 5-day remand.

The detainees today confessed their active involvement in laundering Tk 25 crore, the amount embezzled through fraudulent means from United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCBL) by Javed, before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate S M Alauddin Mahmud under Section 164 of the CrPC.

ACC’s Public Prosecutor Mokarram Hossain said both Utpal and Aziz today made their statements admitting their involvement in the crime.

Utpal and Aziz had been serving as AGMs at Aramit Group, an industrial group owned by Javed’s family.

According to ACC sources, Utpal is the mastermind behind the money laundering process from Bangladesh to Dubai and then to various countries, including the UK, on behalf of Javed's family.

Abdul Aziz, as the AGM of Aramit Thai Aluminum, was responsible for managing and supervising Javed's local assets.

The ACC team yesterday recovered a large volume of files and documents tied in 23 sacks linked to financial crimes committed by Javed and his family members from Shikalbaha area of Karnaphuli upazila following the confession of Utpal and Aziz.

Md. Mashiur Rahman, the deputy director attached to the ACC head office, filed a case at ACC’s Chattogram District Integrated Office-1 on July 24 last against Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, his wife, siblings, and 31 other individuals, including business officers and employees.

According to the case statement, Javed, his wife Rukhmila, and other family members opened five fictitious business entities in the names of Aramit officials. One of these entities applied for a 'time loan' from United Commercial Bank (UCBL) to import wheat, chickpeas, turmeric, and peas. 

The loan of Tk 25 crore was approved and transferred to different account numbers opened in the names of the other fictitious entities in the same bank. The money was then laundered. Additionally, a business entity called Imperial Trading, owned by Abdul Aziz, received some of the embezzled funds from UCBL.

Prior to the 2024 parliamentary elections, he faced allegations of accumulating significant wealth in overseas countries.

According to media sources, Javed left for the UK with his wife and family shortly before the fall of the Awami League government during the student-mass uprising on August 5 last year.

An initial investigation revealed that the ex-minister has amassed huge assets illegally not only in the United Kingdom and the United States but also in other Asian countries like Singapore, Dubai, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Cambodia.