Banks asked to freeze accounts of Agarwala, family

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) on Monday directed all banks to freeze the accounts of Diamond World Managing Director Dilip Kumar Agarwala, who is alleged to be a smuggler, and his family members.

In a letter sent to banks and other financial institutions, the BFIU ordered to halt transactions of the accounts held by Agarwala and his wife and their children as well as institutions owned by them for 30 days under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

Besides, it also said if there is any locker service in their names, their use would be cancelled for the same period.

Banks and financial institutions have also been asked to send the account-related information or documents, such as account opening forms, KYC and transaction statements, to the intelligence unit within the next five working days.

On Saturday, a Dhaka court sent Dilip Kumar Agarwala to jail in a case filed over shooting and killing BNP activist Hriday Ahmed in front of BRAC University in the capital’s Badda during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

On 4 September, Another Dhaka court granted a three-day remand against him in the case.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the controversial businessman in a raid on his Gulshan-1 office in Dhaka in the early hours of 4 September.

Earlier, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police launched an investigation into allegations of money laundering against Agarwala and other stakeholders related to the Diamond World.

Confirming the matter on 3 September, CID's Superintendent of Police (Media) Azad Rahman said that the department's financial crime unit initiated the probe into various allegations surfaced against Agarwala.

The allegations include siphoning off a huge amount of money abroad by importing gold and diamonds into the country through smuggling, selling high-quality glass pieces as real diamonds at showrooms in different districts resorting to fraudulence, controlling gold smuggling syndicates in Dubai, the UAE and Singapore, possessing three jewellery shops and eleven houses in India's Kolkata, amassing vast properties in Dubai and Canada, and becoming a director of a bank illegally by investing Tk40 crore through forgery.