Court bans transfer of property of former minister Nurul Islam, his wife

The Chittagong Money Loan Court has issued a ban on the transfer of property belonging to former Minister of Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment Nurul Islam BSc and his wife Sanwara Begum.

The order was given in connection with a default on a loan of approximately Tk30.53 crore from Uttara Bank PLC.

The ruling was issued by Joint District Judge of the Chittagong Money Loan Court Mujahidur Rahman yesterday (21 October). Rezaul Karim, the bench assistant of the court, confirmed the matter.

Karim said that since the defendant had not mortgaged any immovable property when taking the loan, the court determined that it would be difficult to recover the substantial debt unless their assets were restricted from being transferred.

Earlier, on 12 May, the court had also banned the four sons of Nurul Islam from leaving the country in connection with the same case.

The case was filed on behalf of Uttara Bank PLC against the managing director, chairman, and five directors of Sanwara Dairy Foods Ltd. and Unilac Sanwara (B.D.) Ltd., both family-owned companies of Nurul Islam. Nurul Islam is listed as the fifth defendant in the case. He previously served as managing director and is currently a director of both organisations.

Nurul Islam was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Chattogram-8 constituency in 2008. He also served as the Technocrat Minister of Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment from 14 July 2015, to 6 November 2018.

His son Mujibur Rahman is the managing director of Sanwara Dairy Foods Ltd., while his other three sons hold directorial positions in the company. The family business secured a loan of Tk30 crore from Uttara Bank in the name of Sanwara Dairy Foods Ltd., but no property was mortgaged to the bank. The loan was granted based on their personal guarantee and a trust receipt.