Saifuzzaman Chowdhury

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury (born 18 February 1969) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and member of parliament from Chittagong-13. He served as the Minister of Land during Sheikh Hasina's Fourth Cabinet.

Early life
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury was born on 18 February 1969 in Anwara, Chattogram. His father was freedom fighter and senior Awami League leader Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury and his mother was Noor Nahar Jaman. His wife, Rukhmila Zaman, is the chairperson of United Commercial Bank.

Career
Chowdhury was elected to the parliament from Chittagong-13 in 2014. He is a member of the executive committee of United Commercial bank and Chairman of the Arameet group. He was thrice elected President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce.

In 2020, Chowdhury received the UN Public Service award for digitalising services of the Ministry of Land.

Controversy
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, under the leadership of his father Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu forced into the United Commercial Bank (Bangladesh) with 50 to 60 armed cadres in 1999 and captured the leadership of the bank putting the directors at gunpoint. Also Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed has at least 260 properties in the United Kingdom for which he has paid at least GBP 134.76 million or Tk 1,888 crore, according to The Daily Star's calculation from company filings publicly available on UK government websites.

The three-time Awami League lawmaker has also at least 537 mortgages against properties in the UK. A vast majority of these properties are in London. However, his tax returns, submitted along with his affidavit to the Election Commission, states that he has no foreign income. The affidavit says his annual income from business is only Tk 1.35 lakh. Although the affidavit must also reveal the annual income of dependents -- like wife and children -- the minister left that blank. In addition, his affidavit says that he and his wife jointly hold shares and debentures of only Tk 17.90 crore, about a hundred times less than his total known investment in UK properties.