International Desk

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit went undercover to reveal how a former government minister from Bangladesh built a half billion-dollar property empire on a modest official salary.

Strict currency laws restrict citizens from taking more than $12,000 a year out of Bangladesh, and tough government rules ban ministers from holding directorships or profiting from private businesses.

Al Jazeera reveals that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, then a minister of land and a close ally of the now deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, bought over 360 luxury properties in Britain alone worth $250m. His appetite for real estate spread to Dubai, New York, Singapore and Malaysia.

The politician boasted of his powerful connections.

"My father was very close to the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), actually, and I am also... She is my boss... She knows I have a business here (in Britain)."

His property buying gained pace in 2017 when he set up UK companies but accelerated in 2019 when he became a government minister.

Sheikh Hasina is in exile in India following her government’s brutal crackdown on student protests in July, and many of her ministers, including Chowdhury, have fled the country. Bangladesh authorities are now investigating claims that he laundered millions of dollars in the UK; they have frozen his bank accounts and taken control of his family-owned bank, UCBL, to protect depositors’ money.

Posing as property investors, Al Jazeera journalists met the minister last year in his $14m London home where he bragged about spending thousands of dollars on hand-made crocodile shoes and tailored Italian suits from top London stores.

The politician gave undercover reporters a tour of his London house featuring a cinema, gym, private elevator and secure underground parking for his new Rolls-Royce.

Chowdhury told Al Jazeera that his properties were purchased with funds earned by his legitimate businesses in the UK, the UAE and America, and that he is the victim of a political witch-hunt.