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		<lang class="3" colour="#000000" orgstyle="HEAD new 2" style="Headline1"  font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="25">Saifuzzaman’s UK property financier </lang>
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="FROM PAGE" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Bold" size="7">FROM PAGE 12
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="INDENTLESS BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">entities tied to the Mayfair-based firm have now entered insolvency, the FT added.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">MFS provided what it called “complex, property-backed lending”. The company’s main products included buy-to-let mortgages and bridging loans -- short-term debt that borrowers could use for various kinds of investments in real assets, according to The Telegraph.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">After the fall of the Hasina regime, it appeared that nearly all of the MFS-linked mortgages were repaid. At the time, lawyers for Paresh Raja, the founder and chief executive officer of MFS, said that MFS had “a large underwriting team who scrutinises every loan and carries out detailed and thorough anti-money laundering and other checks.”
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">They emphasised that Raja “has no connection to Bangladesh or the Hasina government”, it added.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">MFS differed in important ways from mainstream banks. It was a shadow bank, meaning it offered loans but did not take deposits. As a result, it was not subject to the strict regulations that high street lenders must adhere to, according to The Telegraph.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">The FT said major global lenders, including Barclays, Jefferies and Apollo’s Atlas SP Partners, are facing significant exposure following the sudden collapse of UK-based mortgage provider MFS amid allegations of fraud and “double-pledging” of collateral.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">Barclays, which provided both banking services and financing to MFS, has an estimated exposure of £600 million. The bank reportedly began blocking certain transactions for the lender in late 2025 before freezing all related accounts in early January, as per the FT report.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">Barclays declined to comment on the matter.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">The Telegraph said the fallout from property deals linked to Hasina’s government continues. Authorities in Bangladesh are also looking into Chowdhury’s affairs amid a broader investigation into flats and houses bought by former allies and family members of the prime minister.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">In Britain, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, Hasina’s niece, resigned as Treasury minister in January last year amid growing pressure over allegations of an anti-corruption scandal in Bangladesh. 
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">Siddiq faces a corruption trial in Bangladesh over claims that she illegally received a plot of land from her aunt’s government. She denies the allegations.
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	<lang class="3" style=".Bodylaser" colour="#000000" orgstyle="BODY new" font="Blacker Pro Display" fontStyle="Regular" size="8.5">Raja did not respond to a request for comment. The Telegraph was unable to reach Chowdhury for comment.</lang>
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