UK High Court freezes £15m London apartment of ex-land minister’s brother

The UK High Court has barred the sale or transfer of a luxury London flat worth £15 million (Tk 2.4883 billion) linked to Anisuzzaman Chowdhury Rony, the brother of former Bangladesh land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury.

The order was granted following an application by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which is investigating allegations of money laundering, embezzlement and fraud involving the property near Regent’s Park in London.

The NCA suspects the flat may have been purchased with laundered money. Its investigation found that the property’s beneficial owner had failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the source of the funds used to buy it in 2023. Under UK anti-corruption legislation, a failure to explain the origin of assets can provide grounds for a court to infer that they were acquired unlawfully, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The High Court imposed the restriction amid allegations that the property is linked to Rony Chowdhury and may have been bought with illicit funds.

Investigators have also alleged that a complex arrangement was created to conceal the flat’s beneficial ownership. In September 2025, shares in the company holding the property were transferred for just £1. Anisuzzaman Chowdhury has also been unable to explain the source of the money used to acquire it, according to the allegations presented to the court.

The case forms part of a broader NCA investigation into assets linked to the former land minister. In June 2025, a UK court ordered the freezing of assets worth about £185 million associated with Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. The agency also obtained court orders requiring him and related individuals to explain the sources of their wealth.

Court order follows investigation into ownership and source of funds.

According to the Financial Times, the NCA secured the High Court order restricting the sale or transfer of the flat earlier this week.

The agency told the court that the property had suspected links to embezzlement, corruption, fraud and money laundering. It identified Anisuzzaman “Rony” Chowdhury as the flat’s beneficial owner and said he had failed to explain the origin of the funds his company used to purchase it.

An NCA investigator submitted a written witness statement to the court, alleging that a deliberately complicated ownership structure had been created to obscure the property’s true ownership.

In September 2025, shares in the company holding the flat were transferred to a third party for just £1.

The NCA alleged that the arrangement was intended to conceal Anisuzzaman Chowdhury’s control of the property. Under the alleged plan, ownership would eventually have been returned to his wife and two daughters.

In her ruling, Justice Karen Steyn said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the flat had been purchased with the proceeds of crime. She therefore ordered restrictions on its sale or transfer.

The order nevertheless allows the landlord to take legal action to recover possession of the property from a tenant.

Lawyers representing Anisuzzaman Chowdhury did not oppose the order in court.

Chowdhury, however, has denied any wrongdoing and rejected allegations that he sought to conceal the property’s ownership.

He said he would vigorously contest any future civil proceedings seeking the forfeiture of his assets. He also warned that he would take legal action over defamatory statements involving his wife and children.

Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024, the interim administration led by Professor Muhammad Yunus launched efforts to recover assets allegedly siphoned out of Bangladesh.

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and members of his family have previously faced allegations of accumulating substantial wealth overseas through unlawful means.

According to the NCA, the value of their overseas property holdings reached approximately $295 million between 1992 and the fall of the Hasina government in August 2024.

As part of an ongoing civil investigation, the NCA secured orders in June 2025 to freeze properties worth about £185 million linked to Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Although Anisuzzaman Chowdhury has denied having business ties with his brother, UK investigators continue to examine the wider family’s assets.