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By Zulkarnain Saer Khan and Will Thorne

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, former Bangladesh Minister of Land, is currently living in a $14m London house despite a court order that bans him from leaving Bangladesh, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has found. The ban was imposed while anti-corruption authorities there investigate allegations that Chowdhury laundered millions of dollars into Britain.

Chowdhury was filmed in London walking past a luxury apartment block, where he owns six properties worth over $9m, a small part of his UK property empire.  

Those apartments, along with hundreds of others in the United Arab Emirates and America, are now the subject of a court order obtained by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission freezing the assets of Chowdhury and his wife.   

The politician escaped Bangladesh as the government collapsed in August following weeks of anti-corruption demonstrations where hundreds of protestors were killed by security forces. Then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of Chowdhury, fled into exile in India.

More properties in Dubai

In September, Al Jazeera released  The Minister’s Millions, an investigation into Chowdhury’s global property empire, worth an estimated $500m. The former minister boasted to undercover Al Jazeera reporters he has apartments in London, New York, and Dubai. Since 2016, Chowdhury has purchased over 360 luxury homes just in Britain.  

Data obtained by Al Jazeera also reveals the number of properties Chowdhury has in Dubai is higher than initially thought.

Newly leaked property data from 2023 show that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury is the listed owner of more than 250 luxury apartments in the United Arab Emirates, worth over $140m. The records reveal his wife Rukhmila Zaman, who is also under investigation for money laundering in Bangladesh, is the listed owner of another fifty properties in Dubai worth over $25m USD.

Previous leaks of Dubai property data from 2020 and 2022, obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) and shared with Al Jazeera by media outlet E24 and the Organised Crime and Reporting Project (OCCRP), had earlier uncovered 54 properties listed in their names.   

In undercover footage, the minister boasted about owning a penthouse in the prestigious Opera District, and land records confirm he is the listed owner of a luxury apartment there, costing more than $5m. 

With this new data leak, it is calculated the former politician and his wife have spent nearly $170m buying over 300 high-end apartments in the UAE. Overall, it is estimated the pair are the listed owners of more than 600 properties around the world.

Money laundering investigation

Bangladesh currency laws forbid any citizen from taking more than $12,000 out of the country in a year. Al Jazeera discovered that Chowdhury had broken Bangladesh tax laws by failing to declare any of his offshore wealth between 2018 and 2023.

Following the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the interim government of Bangladesh has launched a major investigation into claims of widespread corruption among former ministers. Authorities have frozen the bank accounts of Chowdhury and his wife and ordered them not to leave Bangladesh while they probe allegations that he laundered millions of dollars in Britain. 

Chowdhury has told Al Jazeera the funds used to buy his overseas properties come from legitimate businesses outside Bangladesh, which he has owned for years. He claims to be the subject of a politically motivated “witch-hunt” against people associated with the previous government.

 Rukhmila Zaman did not respond to our request for comment.