Bangladeshis linked to Hasina regime appear to have made UK property transactions in past year | Real estate

By the point Bangladesh’s student-led revolution lastly toppled Sheikh Hasina, her safety forces had already spilled the blood of tons of of protesters.Now, virtually a yr after the nation’s autocratic chief fled the previous British colony into exile, an interim authorities is struggling to navigate bitter factional politics and financial turmoil.In opposition to that traumatic backdrop, a Knightsbridge townhouse in London, or a mansion on a personal highway in Surrey, appear worlds away.But luxurious UK actual property is taking part in a central function within the drama.Investigators in Dhaka have been sifting by means of allegations that highly effective and politically linked figures underneath the earlier regime exploited senior positions to loot state contracts and the banking system, channelling tens of millions into UK property.In Could, the Nationwide Crime Company (NCA) – typically known as Britain’s FBI – froze £90m of property belonging to members of the Rahman household, whose UK portfolio was revealed in a Guardian investigation final yr.Three weeks later, the NCA froze greater than £170m of belongings belonging to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, a former land minister within the Hasina authorities who amassed an enormous fortune throughout her tenure that included greater than 300 UK properties, starting from residences to lavish townhouses.The federal government of Sheikh Hasina was toppled by a student-led revolution final yr. {Photograph}: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/ReutersNow, an investigation by the Guardian and the marketing campaign group Transparency Worldwide has discovered that a number of Bangladeshis who’re underneath scrutiny in Dhaka seem to have both offered, transferred or refinanced UK property for the reason that revolution started.The transactions increase questions in regards to the freedom with which these underneath suspicion have continued to conduct enterprise in London, in addition to the due diligence carried out by UK legislation corporations and consultants who helped facilitate the transactions.Main figures in Bangladesh’s interim authorities at the moment are calling on Britain to err on the aspect of warning by freezing extra UK property belongings whereas the authorities in Dhaka full their investigations.London property might now play a starring function in what has been billed by some as an extended overdue anti-corruption purge – however by others as a politically motivated witch-hunt.From Dhaka to the DorchesterThe London five-star lodge the Dorchester, the place rooms price upwards of £800 an evening, might not appear essentially the most acceptable base from which to take intention at a decadent elite.But the Mayfair lodge’s plush rooms served because the momentary residence of a giant Bangladeshi authorities delegation that visited in early June, led by the interim premier, Muhammad Yunus, on a mission to forge stronger ties with the UK.London is of explicit significance to Bangladesh, due partly to the large diaspora within the capital, but in addition to the UK’s supply of assist to trace belongings that investigators in Dhaka suppose might have been obtained utilizing laundered cash.Muhammad Yunus speaks at Cop 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024. {Photograph}: Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Pictures/REX/ShutterstockAhsan Mansur, the central financial institution governor who’s main his nation’s efforts to repatriate belongings, desires extra measures comparable to these issued towards Chowdhury and the Rahmans.“We’re conscious of efforts to liquidate belongings and we wish the UK authorities to think about extra freezing orders,” Mansur mentioned.Measures to dam transactions would, he mentioned, “give us hope of following due course of to repatriate belongings”.His name was echoed by the chair of Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Fee (ACC). Final month, Mohammad Abdul Momen mentioned he had requested the NCA to think about freezing the belongings of a number of people, amid a flurry of post-revolutionary property market exercise.To freeze or to not freezeDisclosures to the UK Land Registry present at the very least 20 “purposes for dealing” have been submitted up to now yr in relation to property owned by figures underneath scrutiny by Dhaka. Such paperwork usually point out a sale, switch or change to a mortgage.Three relate to £24.5m price of property in the end owned by members of the Sobhan household, the highly effective dynasty behind the multibillion-pound Bashundhara enterprise group, a conglomerate that spans cement to media.One, a four-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge, has been the topic of two current transactions, the aim of that are unclear. Till April final yr, it was owned instantly by Sayem Sobhan Anvir, Bashundhara’s managing director, by way of an organization based mostly within the United Arab Emirates.Sobhan is amongst a number of relations underneath investigation by the ACC for allegations together with cash laundering, the Guardian understands.In April, the property was transferred – apparently freed from cost – to a UK enterprise known as Brookview Heights Ltd. Brookview is owned by a director of Orbis London, an actual property advisory agency with places of work in Liechtenstein and Singapore that has acted for the Sobhans on property transactions up to now.The London residence seems to have subsequently been offered for £7.35m to a newly shaped firm, whose sole director is an accountant with no on-line profile. The accountant is registered because the proprietor and director of a number of different corporations that look like particular goal autos for multimillion-pound London properties.Land Registry information present that UK legislation corporations have made two extra purposes for dealing on properties owned by one other member of the Sobhan household, Shafiat, together with an £8m mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey.A member of the family didn’t return a request for remark however has beforehand mentioned that the household deny “all allegations of wrongdoing and can robustly defend ourselves towards these allegations”.Members of the Sobhan household are amongst a clutch of UK property homeowners whose belongings the ACC has requested the NCA to think about freezing.skip previous publication promotionSign as much as Enterprise TodayGet set for the working day – we’ll level you to all of the enterprise information and evaluation you want each morningPrivacy Discover: Newsletters might comprise information about charities, on-line advertisements, and content material funded by outdoors events. For extra info see our Privateness Coverage. We use Google reCaptcha to guard our web site and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.after publication promotionTwo extra people have come underneath scrutiny from the ACC as a part of investigations into Chowdhury.Each have engaged in a number of property offers over the previous yr.One is Chowdhury’s brother, Anisuzzaman, whereas the opposite is a profitable British-Bangladeshi property developer, whom the Guardian has chosen to not identify.Land Registry knowledge reveals current market exercise on 4 properties owned by Anisuzzaman Chowdhury.They embrace the sale of a £10m Georgian townhouse on the fringes of Regent’s Park, central London, accomplished final July. An extra three purposes, understood to narrate to refinancing, have taken place since.Attorneys for Anisuzzaman Chowdhury mentioned he didn’t imagine that there was any reliable purpose for any of his belongings to be frozen and that the sale of the Regent’s Park property was agreed in 2023, earlier than the revolution.In response to stories in Bangladesh, the ACC has beforehand been requested by the chair of a giant native financial institution, UCB, to research whether or not Chowdhury helped the London-based property developer get hold of loans irregularly from the lender.This yr, a Bangladeshi court docket imposed a journey ban on the developer, who denies any wrongdoing.An extra three purposes for dealing relate to properties owned by the son and the nephew of Salman F Rahman, who runs the Beximco enterprise group, one in all Bangladesh’s largest conglomerates. Ahmed Shayan Rahman and Ahmed Shahryar Rahman are underneath investigation by the ACC.Grosvenor Sq. in central London, the place a £35m house was lately frozen by the Nationwide Crime Company. {Photograph}: AP S (uk)/AlamyThe properties, together with a £35m house in Mayfair’s Grosvenor Sq., had been frozen by the NCA final month.Attorneys for the Rahmans mentioned they denied any wrongdoing. They mentioned “political upheaval” in Bangladesh had led to allegations being made towards many individuals, including that they might “have interaction with any investigation which takes place within the UK”.Joe Powell MP, the chair of an all-party parliamentary group inspecting corruption and tax, desires any such investigations to maneuver rapidly.“Historical past tells us that belongings can rapidly evaporate except swift steps are taken to freeze these belongings whereas investigations are underneath approach,” he mentioned.Powell welcomed the motion already taken by the NCA however urged it to “broaden the online as quickly as potential”.The Labour MP leads a bunch of parliamentarians that’s focusing on London’s repute as a house for suspicious funds and those that allow the switch of that wealth, notably given the renewed concentrate on oligarchs that adopted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Fast GuideContact us about this storyShowThe greatest public curiosity journalism depends on first-hand accounts from folks within the know.When you have one thing to share on this topic you may contact us confidentially utilizing the next strategies.Safe Messaging within the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a instrument to ship recommendations on tales. Messages are finish to finish encrypted and hid throughout the routine exercise that each Guardian cell app performs. This prevents an observer from understanding that you’re speaking with us in any respect, not to mention what’s being mentioned.When you do not have already got the Guardian app, obtain it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Choose ‘Safe Messaging’. SecureDrop, prompt messengers, e-mail, phone and postSee our information at theguardian.com/ideas for different strategies and the professionals and cons of every. Illustration: Guardian Design / Wealthy CousinsThank you in your suggestions.Transparency Worldwide is elevating questions over the function performed by a number of UK corporations which have acted for people the NCA has already focused, or who the ACC has named.The legislation agency Jaswal Johnston submitted purposes on properties owned by the Rahmans. A spokesperson mentioned the agency had not been concerned in any gross sales and that it took its due diligence obligations “extraordinarily critically”.Merali Beedle, a legislation agency that made purposes for dealing on one £35m Rahman property and one other £8m residence owned by a member of the Sobhan household, declined to remark.A spokesperson for Transparency Worldwide mentioned: “Skilled companies corporations ought to train excessive warning when conducting regulated actions for purchasers recognized to be underneath investigation. They need to carry out complete source-of-wealth checks and instantly report suspicious exercise to police.“With out swift motion, these funds danger vanishing into the worldwide monetary system, doubtlessly inserting them past restoration.”The ACC declined to touch upon its investigations.