The UK High Court has frozen a £15 million London apartment owned by Anisuzzaman “Ronny” Chowdhury, brother of former Bangladesh land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, after the National Crime Agency (NCA) raised concerns that the property could be linked to proceeds of crime, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
The freezing order, secured by the NCA this week, prevents the sale or transfer of the luxury apartment near Regent’s Park. Investigators said Anisuzzaman had failed to explain the source of funds used to purchase the property and allegedly attempted to disguise his control through a £1 transfer of the company holding its title.
At a court hearing on Thursday, the NCA said it suspected the property was connected to embezzlement, corruption, fraud and money laundering.
According to a witness statement submitted by the agency, investigators uncovered what they described as a “deliberately opaque” arrangement intended to conceal the property's true ownership.
Anisuzzaman was subjected to an unexplained wealth order last year, requiring him to demonstrate that the property had been acquired using legitimate funds.
Under UK law, failure to provide a satisfactory explanation can create a legal presumption that the property was obtained through unlawful conduct.
The court heard that Anisuzzaman transferred the company holding the apartment to a third party in September 2025 for a nominal £1. However, the NCA alleged that the arrangement was structured to ultimately return control of the property to his wife and two daughters.
The company was subsequently renamed PNN UK Properties.
In written submissions, the NCA described the transfer as “nothing more than an arrangement of convenience” intended to facilitate the refinancing of loans secured against the apartment from Singapore-based DBS Bank.
Although the shares in the company were nominally transferred for £1, the agency said the total value of the share sale was £14.95 million.
The NCA also told the court that the DBS loan had not been refinanced and that the bank was pursuing repossession of the apartment following a loan default.
Mrs Justice Karen Steyn ruled that there was a good arguable case that the property represented the proceeds of crime and granted the freezing order. She also allowed an exception for landlord possession proceedings.
Anisuzzaman's solicitors did not oppose the application.
Anisuzzaman denied engaging in unlawful conduct and said he would contest any civil recovery proceedings brought by the NCA.
“On legal advice I did not contest the NCA’s application for a [property freezing order] but I have not engaged in any unlawful conduct,” he told the FT.
He added that if the agency initiated civil recovery proceedings, he would defend them and demonstrate that the allegations were untrue.
He also denied attempting to conceal ownership of the apartment, saying it had been transparently disclosed to the NCA. He said his wife and children had no involvement in the allegations and that he would defend them against defamatory statements.
According to the NCA's witness statement, Anisuzzaman was living in the UK and had used the apartment as his principal residence.
Land Registry records show that he purchased the property through his company, Ronny 42 Limited, in 2023 for £12.4 million.
The NCA also alleged that documents associated with the arrangement bore forged signatures attributed to former US president Richard Nixon, former UK prime minister David Cameron and US singer Chris Brown. An investigator said the documents demonstrated a “cavalier” attitude towards fraud.
The case comes amid a broader UK investigation into the overseas assets of Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, who served as Bangladesh's land minister under the government of Sheikh Hasina.
According to the FT, Saifuzzaman and members of his family accumulated a property portfolio worth an estimated $295 million between 1992 and August 2024, when Hasina's government collapsed.
Following the change of government, Bangladesh's interim administration, led by Muhammad Yunus, sought to trace overseas assets it alleged had been acquired using money taken out of the country during Hasina's rule.
In June 2025, the NCA froze properties linked to Saifuzzaman worth approximately £185 million as part of an ongoing civil investigation. The agency also secured unexplained wealth orders against the former minister, his wife and related companies.
Saifuzzaman had taken out hundreds of mortgages from Market Financial Solutions, a British specialist lender that collapsed in 2026 amid allegations of fraud.
Anisuzzaman previously told the FT that he had “no business relation” with his brother.
The latest freezing order concerns Anisuzzaman's London apartment and forms part of the continuing investigation into the property's ownership and funding. A freezing order does not, by itself, establish that the property was acquired through criminal activity.