Top brass served legal notice over alleged $25m laundering

A legal notice served on eight officials including the Bangladesh Bank Governor and the heads of NBR and BFIU; giving seven-day ultimatum for action.

The notice served on high-ranking government officials – including the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and the Head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) – alleged that Eastern Bank PLC (EBL) Chairman Md. Showkat Ali Chowdhury laundered 25 million US dollars from the United Kingdom to Dubai, and demanding an explanation for the authorities’ failure to take appropriate legal action.

The notice describes Showkat Ali Chowdhury as a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis and an associate of the widely discussed banking-sector figures S. Alam and Nazrul Islam Mazumder.

Supreme Court advocate A H M Rezwanul Sayeed sent the notice by registered post on behalf of a concerned citizen advocating good governance.

The notice questions why no legal steps were taken despite a clear opportunity to intercept the suspicious funds before their unimpeded transfer to Dubai.
It issues a seven-day ultimatum to act against those responsible and to disclose the actual facts to the public, failing which further appropriate legal action will be taken.

According to the notice, while investigating the laundered assets of former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, the relevant UK authorities (including the National Crime Agency) discovered 25 million US dollars held in the UK in Showkat Ali Chowdhury’s name.

During that period, he attempted to transfer the funds to Mashreq Bank and Emirates NBD in Dubai, UAE.

The UK authorities temporarily withheld the suspicious transaction and formally notified the BFIU, explicitly warning that unless a freezing order or a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request was received from Bangladesh within four weeks, the transaction could no longer be held.

The notice alleges that the BFIU failed to take any effective step within the stipulated time.

As a result, the 25 million dollars were freely transferred to Dubai, and the state lost a golden opportunity to seize and repatriate the laundered money.

The notice further alleges that, having secretly learned of the developments, Showkat Ali Chowdhury attempted to “declare” or legalize the undisclosed offshore assets by showing a tax payment of Tk 136 crore for the 2025-26 tax year.

The sender of the notice contends that under the prevailing laws there is no scope to legalize undisclosed laundered assets merely by paying tax; under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, it constitutes a distinct criminal offence.

The notice states that the BFIU had previously suspended the bank accounts of Showkat Ali Chowdhury and his family members in two phases on 30 June and 30 July 2025.

The BFIU’s own investigative report, according to the notice, revealed suspicious transactions of approximately Tk 8,407 crore across 187 accounts in 28 banks, along with evidence of asset formation abroad through shell companies.

Despite repeated media reports on his alleged corruption and money laundering as an associate of S. Alam and Nazrul Islam Mazumder, the investigation process was stalled again and again through an unknown “invisible compromise,” the notice alleges.

The notice demands the immediate handover of all intelligence and documents concerning the 25 million dollars to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police for their ongoing inquiries.

It further calls for an immediate re-evaluation of Mr. Chowdhury’s “fit and proper” status under the Bank Company Act, questioning whether the chairman of a scheduled bank may remain in office while facing such grave allegations and ongoing investigations.