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Read more- Bangladeshi Ex-High Commissioner Hides with Pro-BNP Kin, Press Minister Seeks Asylum
Informed sources reveal that she and her family have already acquired UK travel documents through the asylum process, enabling them to travel to nearly all international destinations with the exception of Bangladesh.
A Dhaka special court has imposed an overseas travel ban on former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Saida Muna Tasneem and three members of her family amid an expansive inquiry into multi-billion-taka loan embezzlement and illicit capital flight. Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Shahjahan Kabir granted the order following a formal petition by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The ruling bars Saida Muna Tasneem, her husband Touhidul Islam Chowdhury, and their two sons, Alvi Azfar Chowdhury and Javed Opgenhaffen, from international movement. According to ACC case dockets, the family and associated syndicates are under active investigation for allegedly embezzling roughly Tk 2,000 crore in bank credit through collusion and siphoning the assets abroad. The commission stressed in court that intelligence indicated the accused might attempt to cross further international borders to evade proceedings, necessitating an immediate freeze on their movement to protect the ongoing inquiry.
Front Companies and Defrauded Institutions-The financial probe centres on Touhidul Islam Chowdhury, Chairman of Generation Next Fashions Ltd, who, in alleged collusion with Muna and others, extracted astronomical sums from 12 financial institutions through dummy and shell entities.
The defrauded lenders named in the proceedings include United Commercial Bank (UCB), Bank Asia, Eastern Bank Limited (EBL), City Bank, BRAC Bank, National Bank Limited (NBL), Trust Bank, Southeast Bank, and AB Bank.
The ACC probe team—headed by Deputy Director Md Jahangir Alam and Assistant Director Saifur Rahman—has formally dispatched requisitions to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) to secure tax dockets, fund flow registries, and cross-border remittance trails.
In a concurrent order during the same court session, Judge Kabir also barred Emma Claire Burton, the British-origin wife of former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, from foreign travel for failing to submit a mandatory wealth statement to the watchdog.
London Sheltering and "Party Office" Accusations- A career diplomat from the 11th batch of the BCS Foreign Affairs Cadre, Saida Muna Tasneem assumed charge of the Court of St James's in late 2018 under the Sheikh Hasina administration. While diplomatic postings conventionally span three years, her assignment was repeatedly extended on a contractual basis—a practice that drew sharp condemnation from opposition parties, who accused her of running the London mission as an "Awami League party office."
Following the collapse of the Awami League government and the formation of the interim administration under Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a formal notice on 29 September 2024, recalling Muna to Dhaka with full state coverage of return travel costs and allowances for her family. Muna, who was scheduled to go on post-retirement leave (PRL) on 26 December 2024, defied the repatriation directive.
Rather than boarding her flight to Dhaka, she delayed vacating the official diplomatic residence for two months before relocating to a private address in East London.
Community records and local observers indicate she initially took shelter at the East London residence of an influential pro-BNP intellectual—an arrangement widely regarded in the area as an "open secret"—before quietly vacating the property for an undisclosed location.
Political Asylum and Mission Defiance-Muna’s defiance reflects a wider pattern among select mission personnel following the political transition. Md Ashikun Nabi Chowdhury, the longest-serving Minister (Press) at the London mission whose contract was renewed three times before being terminated by the Ministry of Public Administration on 29 August 2024, has refused to return to Dhaka. Records confirm that Ashikun Nabi Chowdhury and his wife have formally lodged applications for political asylum in the United Kingdom.
Her recall formed part of a wider diplomatic reshuffle by the interim government, which concurrently recalled five other heads of mission—including ambassadors to New Delhi, Brussels, Canberra, Lisbon, and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York—all of whom were due for PRL in December 2024.
Developing Diplomatic Standoff- Telephone numbers registered to Muna have since been disconnected, cutting off direct communication. As Dhaka accelerates its cross-border money laundering probe through international financial tracking, diplomatic observers in both capitals are watching closely to see how the UK Home Office navigates the presence of recalled diplomats facing multi-billion-taka corruption proceedings at home.
