The government will sell assets belonging to Nassa Group Chairman Nazrul Islam Mazumder to clear outstanding worker salaries, after the businessman signed a draft power of attorney from jail.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment confirmed the development in a statement on Thursday, noting that Mazumder signed the document a day before a deadline set by Labour and Employment Adviser Brig Gen (Retd) M Sakhawat Hussain was due to expire.
The assets identified for sale include a plot on Road-7 in Gulshan, five bighas of land and a seven-storey building in Ashulia, 10 bighas in Char Chengakandi, Narayanganj, shares in the company valued at Taka 86 crore, and a Rajuk plot in Dhaka. The ministry said the signing of the draft power of attorney would make it easier to disburse wages for the current month.
Nassa Group employs over 30,000 workers in its textile and garment operations, in addition to ventures in banking and real estate. Workers have been demanding unpaid wages, with protests breaking out in Ashulia last month that saw demonstrators block roads.
According to media reports, the group’s operations have been paralysed since the regime change in August last year, with factories closed and bank loans left unpaid. While the company has sought letters of credit and fresh loans to restart production, lenders have been reluctant to extend facilities due to its default history. The group has also appealed for government assistance.
Last week, a labour ministry meeting revealed that the interim government had traced Mazumder’s properties in Dubai, Dhaka, and Thakurgaon, including a palm garden and a resort in Dubai, residential plots and flats in the capital, and nearly 40 hectares of land in Thakurgaon.
At the meeting, Adviser Hussain warned that if Nassa Group failed to pay its workers, legal action would follow. He said the chairman’s passport, as well as those of his wife, son, and daughter, would be cancelled.
The ministry had set a deadline of 21st September for Mazumder to provide power of attorney for the sale of assets to cover salaries.
Mazumder, a close associate of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was arrested in October last year in connection with a murder case during the July uprising. Earlier this year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) reported that he also holds assets worth Taka 656 crore in the United Kingdom.
A separate investigation by the BFIU alleged that Mazumder was involved in trade-based money laundering amounting to Taka 16,000 crore. Of this, Taka 4,717 crore was allegedly taken from EXIM Bank—where he served as chairman from 2007 until August last year—through 18 shell companies.
