The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Bangladesh is continuing to crack down on former members of parliament who amassed illegal wealth under the former Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.
At the start of January, it filed charges against two former MPs, Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhurry and Shafiqul Islam Shimul, and their families. The accusations are that they accumulated wealth beyond their known sources of income, and engaged in suspicious financial transactions.
But that’s not all. In the same month, and on similar charges, the ACC filed three more cases against former NBR member Matiur Rahman and his family. It filed two more cases against former Magura-1 Constituency MP Saifuzzaman Shikhor and his wife.
These investigations are relatively near the beginning of the legal process in Bangladesh. If the unexplained assets and suspicious transactions are found to be in violation of anti-corruption and money laundering laws, the court has the power to freeze bank accounts and seize land, property and other assets.
In fact, it has already done so in some other cases.
Recent examples of the court freezing bank accounts
Businessman Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat has been found to have benefitted from financial incentives under the Awami League government. However, before the court made the finding, Nafeez Sarafat’s bank accounts were frozen. They were frozen as far back as August 2024, just after the Awami League was ousted from government after the student-led mass movement.
More recently, in January 2025, a court in Dhaka ordered three bank accounts to be frozen, which belonged to Awami League leader and former state minister Sharif Ahmed. The ACC applied to freeze the accounts while it investigates allegations that Sharif Ahmed tried to transfer funds abroad to avoid prosecution. He is accused of accumulating illegal wealth through corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement of government funds.
Freezing the bank accounts reduces the risk that the money will be siphoned away into obscured bank accounts that are more difficult to trace, and subsequently recover money from.
The court’s powers to seize assets
If found guilty of embezzling money, or receiving money through bribery, corruption or fraud, the court can order property and land to be seized.
This happened recently in the investigation into Nafeez Sarafat. The investigation started in August 2024, and his bank accounts were frozen. But recently, in January 2025, the court ordered the seizure of his home, 18 flats, and land that he owned in the country.
The court also ordered the seizure of three flats in Banani and four flats in Baridhara, which are owned by Mr Sarafat’s son.
Money and assets outside the jurisdiction
The ACC and the courts in Bangladesh have managed to freeze bank accounts and seize assets to help to recover stolen wealth. But what happens if illicit funds have been used to buy assets overseas, or have been stored in bank accounts abroad?
In those circumstances, the ACC and the Bangladeshi courts may need local lawyers to freeze or seize the assets. At Rahman Ravelli we have experience in applying to the UK courts to get the appropriate orders. Once assets are frozen, they are protected from further dissipation and the funds can be recovered to be restored to Bangladesh.
We have experience in pursuing civil remedies to freeze and recover misappropriated assets.That includes pursuing actions in rem (against the property itself) and actions in persona (against the person). Successful actions in rem will deliver the land or property back to the rightful owner.
