The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an investigation into NASSA Group’s Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder for allegedly laundering around $3 million through trade-based schemes to the United States.
CID’s Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Azad Rahman confirmed this through a press release issued on Wednesday.
According to CID, NASSA Group Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder through its company Firoza Garments Ltd received 130 letters of credit (LCs) and sales contracts from National Bank Ltd between March 2020 and 2024.
Despite exporting goods to the United States under these agreements, the CID's preliminary investigation has revealed that nearly $3 million in export proceeds were not brought back to Bangladesh after the stipulated time, indicating potential money laundering to the United States.
Additional allegations surfaced during the probe, with CID uncovering evidence that he purchased luxury properties in London, including homes in Phillimore Gardens and Brunswick Gardens, under his daughter Anika Islam’s name, allegedly through money laundering.
He has evaded customs duties worth hundreds of crores of taka by importing raw materials under the duty-free bond facility and then selling those goods on the domestic market, said the release.
Further investigations have found that he secured approximately Tk 21,000 crore in loans for four companies affiliated with NASSA Group. These funds were purportedly smuggled abroad through under-invoicing and over-invoicing schemes involving several countries, including the UAE, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Thailand.
The Financial Crimes Unit is conducting a separate inquiry into these international money laundering allegations.
