Jailed Nassa chair okays property sales to pay workers

The government will sell the properties of Nassa Group Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder to pay the company's workers, after the embattled businessman signed a draft power of attorney from jail.

Mazumder signed the document just a day before a deadline set by Labour and Employment Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain was due to expire. The ministry confirmed the development in a statement yesterday.

The assets to be sold include plot-6 on Road-7 in Gulshan, five bighas of land and a seven-storey building in Ashulia, 10 bighas in Char Chengakandi, Narayanganj, his shares in the company valued at Tk 86 crore, and a Rajuk plot in the capital.

"It would be easier to pay the workers' salary for the current month as the chairman of the group signed the draft of the power of attorney," the ministry said.

Nassa Group employs more than 30,000 workers in its textile and garment operations, alongside interests in banking and real estate. Workers of its garment units have been demanding unpaid wages, with protests erupting in Ashulia last month that saw demonstrators block roads.

According to media reports, the group has been paralysed since the regime change in August last year, with factories closed and unpaid bank loans exceeding thousands of crores of taka.

To restart operations, Nassa has sought LC facilities and fresh loans from banks, but lenders have been reluctant due to its massive defaults. The group has also appealed for government support.

The latest development follows a labour ministry meeting last week, which revealed that the interim government has traced extensive properties of Mazumder in Dubai, Dhaka, and Thakurgaon.

According to the investigations, he owns a palm garden and a resort in Dubai, plots and flats in the capital, and nearly 40 hectares of land in Thakurgaon linked to him.

Speaking at the meeting, Adviser Sakhawat said, "If Nassa Group fails to pay workers' salaries, legal action will be taken against the owner. Passports of the chairman, his wife, son, and daughter will be cancelled."

The labour ministry had set a deadline of September 21 for Nazrul to provide power of attorney for selling assets to pay workers' salaries.

Mazumder, a close associate of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also holds assets worth £43.23 million or about Tk 656 crore in the UK, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) revealed earlier in February.

The Nassa Group chair was arrested in October last year in connection with a murder case during the July uprising.

According to an investigation by the BFIU, he was involved in trade-based money laundering amounting to Tk 16,000 crore. Of the sum, Tk 4,717 crore was taken out from EXIM Bank, where Mazumder was the chairman from 2007 to August 29 last year, through 18 shell companies.