ACC set to sue 9 political bigwigs

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The Anti-Corruption Commission is all set to file cases against nine more top corruption suspects including Awami League (AL) leader Mohammad Nasim and BNP stalwarts Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Nazmul Huda.

These suspects, who have already been arrested, also include BNP leaders former state minister for power Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, Ali Asgar Lobi, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, AL leaders AHM Mostafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal and Pankaj Debanath and T&T CBA leader Firoze Mia, according to a highly placed source.

“We are ready with files of seven-eight persons. Cases will be filed against them as soon as we approve those. This can happen within a couple of days,” ACC Commissioner Abul Hassan Manzoor Mannan told newsmen yesterday.

Besides, the ACC has made significant progress in gathering information on arrestee BNP leaders Mosaddak Ali Falu, Manjurul Ahsan Munshi and Naser Rahman and AL leader Salman F Rahman. It is yet to complete the files to be used for filing cases against them.

Many of these persons will face multiple graft cases. “But initially, we will start with inconsistencies between their wealth and their known sources of income,” said a senior official.

“Wealth statements submitted by them reveal that they have tried to hide lots of information. For instance, Ali Asgar Lobi has seven houses in Dhaka and 11 cars including two BMWs,” the official pointed out.

Lobi is the owner of the controversial Hawa Bhaban.

“Prior to his arrest, Lobi had made fixed deposits with various banks amounting to Tk 22 crore in seven months but he did not declare that in his wealth statement. He possesses gold ornaments worth Tk 1 crore. These were taken to a renowned jewellery for evaluation. Some of the ornaments are diamond studded,” he pointed out.

“He lived a lavish life. A bathtub in one of his houses is shaped like a lotus. A drawing room at one house measured 2,500 square feet, which is as big as a posh apartment,” he mentioned.

Lobi is among the 50 graft suspects on the first list published by the caretaker government on February 18. They were given a 72-hour deadline to submit wealth statements. So far, 35 have submitted wealth statements and among them, 33 are now in jail. And cases have been filed against three of them.

Moveable and immovable properties of the remaining 15, who did not submit wealth statements, are to be freezed by the government. The matter is now being processed by the home ministry, sources said.

“The process to freeze properties will be a legal measure. The government will have to take steps in this regard as per laws of the land,” said ACC Commissioner Manzoor Mannan.

“Such large scale freezing of property has never taken place in the country before. So, we are viewing this as a critical legal issue,” he noted.

One source pointed out, “The ACC does not have a list of moveable or immovable properties of these 15 persons because they did not submit any wealth statements. So, the ACC first needs to make its own list.”

The ACC is also preparing to ask the 50 high profile graft suspects on a second list to submit wealth statements. The list was revealed in the media on March 9 while the ACC is yet to announce this list.

“Based on our experience regarding the first list of 50, we believe we will do a better job in gathering wealth statements of the next 50 persons,” said Manzoor Mannan.

Meanwhile, the ACC is taking a long time in preparing cases against the top graft suspects because of various minor errors and vagueness of information it has gathered against them.

Sources said the ACC inquiry reports often contain information that lack necessary details. For instance, one suspect has been reported to have a house in Gulshan but the inquiry report did not pinpoint address of the house. Such shortcomings are now being addressed.

Many of the suspects have deposits in foreign banks and properties abroad. The ACC’s present cases will not mention these because the government does not have any agreements with the countries concerned for repatriating these.

But the recently formed taskforces of the government have been vested with powers to retrieve the money illegally transferred to foreign banks and wealth amassed in foreign countries. For exercising this power, the government will first have to go for mutual agreements with other countries upon signing the UN Convention against Corruption. The caretaker government has already decided to sign this UN Convention.

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