BATTLEFORD — Just over a year after Ashraful and Nicole Alam purchased Pennydale Junction after some on-and-off confusion, statements have been posted on the restaurant's Facebook page describing a change in management and a temporary closure.
The announcements come after the June 9 firing of the Town of Battleford's CAO, Ashraful Alam, following a lengthy unauthorized absence outside of the country. The former Battleford and Buffalo Narrows CAO is suspected by Bangladesh police of having killed a woman described as his wife in that country before fleeing to Canada.
The restaurant, caught up in the controversy, issued a statement June 14 stating: “The iconic Pennydale Junction restaurant has been under new management since February 2023.” It was posted by the management team of the long-time Battleford restaurant. Adnan, who has only been identified by his first name, was named as the manager leading the team at Pennydale Junction, according to the statement,
That statement was followed by a Tuesday, June 20, statement from management that due to a family emergency, the restaurant is temporarily closed.
"This temporary break gives us some time to reorganize ourselves and work on recruiting talented and skilled staff," said the restaurant online. "We are taking this break as an opportunity to work on newer strategies for our restaurant."
Adnan was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him.
Soon after news broke that Ashraful Alam was suspected of killing Afroza Begum, formerly of Estevan and a Canadian citizen, a question was posted to Pennydale Junction online asking if the Alams are still the owners of the property. The restaurant said it was no longer owned by them.
"Nope ... [the owner is] a private investor," the restaurant posted on its Facebook page.
However, Information Services Corporation, Saskatchewan's land titles and corporate registry, indicates that the parcel of land and the property is still owned by a company where Ashraful and Nicole Alam are the sole directors.
ISC noted in an email to the News-Optimist/SASKTODAY.ca that "...once ISC has received a land title change request, the turnaround time for a successful application is approximately 2.5 days."
"Records for successful registrations within the Registry are current. Until a land title change request is submitted and accepted, it is not effective."
An ISC search also indicated an accounting company with the same address as Nicole Alam in Edmonton, holds 100 per cent of the shares in the Saskatchewan company named as owners of the Pennydale property. Open source information suggests that Ashraful and Nicole Alam, (Hiemstra) were married on May 26, 2018, and have residences in Edmonton and Battleford.
Their purchase of Pennydale Junction from Tom and Marilyn Tenetuik was first announced in late March of 2022, but in early April it was announced the deal wasn't going ahead. It was not immediately clear why the sale did not proceed. Then in May of 2022, it was announced that the sale had been completed.
Meanwhile, Ashraful Alam's whereabouts are unknown. On April 27, the Town of Battleford held a special meeting to appoint an interim CAO and the town is currently searching for someone to fill the position permanently by the fall.
The News-Optimist/SASKTODAY.ca have been in contact with the Saskatchewan RCMP, who have said they are looking into the matter. Generally speaking, they said, the RCMP assists other law enforcement agencies with their investigations, including locating wanted individuals, upon request. But other than that they had no information to share.
It's noteworthy that Canada does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh, meaning no formal agreement is in place between the two countries regarding the transfer of individuals for the purpose of facing criminal charges.
