Former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. File Photo

DHAKA, Jan 04, 2026 (BSS) - The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has submitted a charge sheet against former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and 36 others for embezzling Taka 250 million through fraud and abuse of power and money laundering from United Commercial Bank's (UCB) Chattogram Port Branch.

This information was disclosed to the journalists today at a regular media briefing at the Anti Corruption Commission's headquarters by its Director General Md. Akhtar Hossain. 

The charges were brought under sections 406/409/420/467/468/471/109 of the Penal Code, 1860, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, in a case filed on July 24 this year with the ACC's integrated district office-1 in Chattogram.

According to the case records, the crimes were committed in a planned manner between August 2018 and March 23 in 2020 at UCB's Port Branch in Chattogram, its head office in Dhaka and other locations.

The ACC investigation found that Mohammad Forman Ullah Chowdhury, protocol officer of Aramit Limited owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, was falsely presented as a businessman and shown as the proprietor of a paper entity named 'Vision Trading' using false information and forged documents, a current account was opened at UCB Port Branch on October 13 in 2019.

The case further stated that Senior Officer Md. Akramullah and the then Branch Manager and Deputy Principal Officer Abdul Hamid Chowdhury approved the account in violation of banking rules without proper verification.

Subsequently, on February 13 in 2020, an application was submitted for a loan of Tk 250 million for 180 days in the name of Vision Trading, claiming purchases of wheat, lentils, chickpeas and yellow peas. Based on false stock statements, experience and warehouse information, the loan was recommended without any collateral.

UCB's joint committee of Corporate Banking and Credit Risk Management (CRM) divisions placed the loan proposal before the Board of Directors with 17 negative observations. Ignoring these adverse findings, the bank's 448th board meeting held on 12 March 2020 gave final approval to the loan.

After disbursement, to conceal the flow of funds, amounts of Taka 100 million and Taka 150 million were transferred on 23 and 24 March in 2020 respectively to the bank's general ledger account. The money was then issued through pay orders to four paper companies-Alpha Traders, Classic Trading, Model Trading and Imperial Trading.

According to the ACC, the proprietors of these entities were essentially employees and associates of companies owned by Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. The funds were later transferred to the accounts of Aramit Cement PLC and Aramit Thai Aluminum Limited, where approximately Taka 141.1 million was used to adjust the previous liabilities.

The charge sheet also alleged that several employees of the Aramit Group withdrew Taka 9,41,07,200 in cash and smuggled the money abroad through illegal (hundi) channels.

ACC sources said that a total of 36 people, including former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, his wife and former UCB Chairman Rukmila Zaman, have been charge-sheeted in connection with the case.