Court orders asset confiscation of Nafeez Sarafat, family

A Dhaka court ordered authorities to confiscate all the unmovable assets of former chairman of Padma Bank Chowdhury Nafeez Safarat, his wife and their son.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain (Galib) passed the order on Tuesday (January 7) following a petition filed by Masudur Rahman, deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The ACC asked the court to allow seizure of 18 flats, multi-story buildings, and plots of different sizes registered under the name of Nafeez and his family members.

Nafeez brought the assets with over Tk887 crore embezzled from different depositors’ accounts and bank funds, the ACC has learnt.

ACC Deputy Director Masudur Rahman submitted the application seeking a confiscation order.

ACC’s court inspector Amir Hossain confirmed the information.

Among the assets of Nafeez’s family that are to be seized is a 20-storey house in Gulshan in his name.

He also has one flat in Gulshan, four in the Dhaka Cantonment Bazar area, one in the Nikunja North residential area and 50 percent of a flat in the Bashundhara residential area. He has two plots in Nikunja, two 7,200 sq feet plots of land in Gazipur’s Kaliakoir, and one of 5,400 sq feet plot in the Purbachal New City project of RAJUK.

He also owns 1,800 sq feet of land in Nikunja, 8.25 decimals of agricultural land in Badda’s Kathaldia, and 8.25 decimals of land in Gazipur Sadar.

Nafeez’s wife Anjuman Ara Shahid owns a four-story house on 5,400 sq feet of land in the Bashundhara residential area, a flat in Panthapath, one on Gulshan Link Road, one in Mirpur DOHS, one in Shahjadpur, and 50 percent of an apartment in the Bashundhara Residential Area.

She also owns three 2,160 sq feet of land in Nikunja, 1,440 sq ft of agricultural land in Badda’s Kathaldia, and 8.25 decimals of land in Gazipur Sadar.

The court has also ordered the seizure of three flats in Banani and four flats in Baridhara owned by the couple’s son Chowdhury Rahib Safwan Sarafat.

In January 2018, Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat assumed the role of chairman of Farmers Bank to help the corruption-stricken bank recovery. The bank was renamed as Padma Bank the following year. However, in the next six years he continued the trend of plundering the bank, causing 62% loans to sour.