EBL Chairman Under CID Scanner Over Laundering Allegations

NN Report:

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has intensified its money laundering probe against Eastern Bank PLC (EBL) Chairman Mohammad Shaukat Ali Chowdhury, seeking extensive documents on his and his family’s identity papers, assets, businesses, foreign travel, and overseas investments. Investigators are also examining reports that he held an undisclosed foreign passport issued by Saint Kitts and Nevis.

According to CID officials, the notice—issued under the Money Laundering Prevention Regulations—directs the Gulshan Police Station to collect documents within five working days, covering domestic and foreign passports, tax records, property purchases abroad, company shareholdings, and approvals for overseas investments. The probe follows long-standing allegations of banking irregularities, preferential treatment of loan defaulters, and illicit fund transfers abroad.

Investigators are scrutinising a 2016 industrial loan approved by EBL to A & B Outwear Limited, owned by top defaulter Nazmul Abedin, which was allegedly used to import a luxury vehicle duty-free under bonded facilities but later used for personal purposes. Records also suggest questionable loan classifications involving nearly Tk 990 million owed to EBL by another Abedin-owned firm.

The investigation has widened to include suspected offshore structures in the British Virgin Islands, property links in Singapore, and alleged associations with convicted money launderers. Officials say the emerging pattern points to a complex network of financial irregularities, prompting a broader and deeper CID investigation.