A Nicosia court has frozen the Paphos property of Bangladeshi businessman Mohammed Saiful Alam, who acquired Cypriot citizenship through the now-defunct Cyprus Investment Programme, as Bangladesh pursues a sweeping criminal investigation against him that includes allegations of money laundering totalling more than €8 billion.
The Nicosia District Court issued the freezing order on May 19 after the Unit for Combating Money Laundering and Financial Intelligence Unit of Cyprus (MOKAS) applied to freeze Alam’s two-storey home in Pareklishia, acting on a formal request from Bangladeshi authorities who are conducting a criminal investigation against him.
A day after the freeze was ordered, a Bangladeshi court sentenced Alam to five months in prison.
The conviction
According to a report by Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star on May 21, Alam was convicted alongside 10 other individuals — including relatives — over a loan of around €6 million issued in 2024 by Islami Bank to a subsidiary of the S. Alam Group. The funds were intended for the purchase of 134 buses that were never bought.
The broader investigation
Bangladeshi authorities allege that Alam, as chairman and chief executive of the S. Alam Group and former chairman of First Security Islami Bank Bangladesh, orchestrated large-scale bank fraud, illegal accumulation of assets, and money laundering between 2009 and 2024, together with associates.
According to the request submitted by Bangladesh to Cyprus’s Attorney General and MOKAS, the case is being investigated by a team drawn from three agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission and the criminal investigations department of the Bangladeshi police.
The Bangladesh Central Bank governor has described Alam as the alleged mastermind behind a money-laundering operation exceeding €8 billion. Bangladeshi authorities believe the laundering was carried out partly through Cyprus, with funds allegedly used to acquire property in Cyprus and Singapore through offshore channels and methods designed to leave no trace in the banking system.
According to the Bangladeshi request, those involved allegedly secured large bank loans using various names and shell companies from Islami Bank Bangladesh, First Security Islami Bank, and other financial institutions — many of them under direct or indirect control of the S. Alam Group. A significant portion of those loans subsequently defaulted, contributing to a serious liquidity crisis at the affected banks, according to the same request.
Cyprus citizenship and the golden passport scheme
Alam holds Cypriot citizenship, acquired through the Cyprus Investment Programme — the scheme, commonly known as the golden passport programme, that allowed foreign nationals to obtain Cypriot citizenship in exchange for significant investment. The programme was scrapped in 2020 following a series of controversies.
Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo reported on May 18 that Alam recently applied to renounce his Bangladeshi citizenship, a move the paper attributed to an attempt to avoid criminal liability. The same report noted that Alam also holds Singaporean citizenship.
Alam does not feature in the report of the Nicolatos committee, which investigated the Cyprus Investment Programme.
