Case Filed Against Rainbow Group Chairman for Alleged Money Laundering of BDT 878 Crore

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police has filed a case against Rafiqul Islam, the chairman of Rainbow Group, along with his associated individuals and entities, on charges of laundering BDT 878 crore. The case was lodged at Gulshan Police Station on Thursday. Additionally, the CID, under a court order, has seized one lakh square feet of commercial space at Jamuna Future Park.

According to a press release issued by the CID on Thursday, an investigation into money laundering allegations against Rafiqul Islam and his related entities revealed significant financial misconduct. The CID found that Rainbow Builders Private Limited purchased land or acquired power of attorney from various individuals and sold it. On March 8, Rafiqul Islam’s son, Kausar Ahmed (alias Apu), and Mehedi Hasan Dipu sold 7.5 acres of land to the Bangladesh Police Officers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society through various deeds. Subsequently, on June 1, more than 6.25 acres of this land were resold to East West Property Limited, a subsidiary of Bashundhara Group, through fraudulent means, generating BDT 57.36 crore.

The press release further stated that Rafiqul Islam’s sons obtained fraudulent loans by presenting fake work orders for land reclamation to the Police Officers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society. They misappropriated BDT 270 crore from First Security Islami Bank and BDT 200 crore from Union Bank. Additionally, they secured a BDT 400 crore loan from the Baridhara branch of Islami Bank by fabricating property valuation documents with the assistance of unidentified accomplices. The group also failed to repay loans taken from various banks, instead laundering the funds, including investing over BDT 240 crore (USD 2 million) to obtain citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda, a Caribbean island nation. As a result, the CID filed a case against Rafiqul Islam and his associated individuals and entities at Gulshan Police Station under charges of fraud, forgery, and violations of the Money Laundering Prevention Act. Additionally, the CID seized approximately BDT 17 crore from 13 bank accounts and one lakh square feet of commercial space at Level 2 of Jamuna Future Park, as per a court order.