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Download PDF Former finance minister M Saifur Rahman’s younger son Shafiur Rahman Babu purchased 100 acres of government land worth Tk 95 lakh in Srimangal upazila for only Tk 500 to establish a tea estate.
Babu could not take possession of the land but if he had, it would have seen eviction of at least 5,000 landless people of around 300 families from there.
The landless people including rickshaw pullers, auto-rickshaw drivers, day labourers and construction workers filed a writ petition with the High Court in August 2002 and the court asked Babu not to take possession of the land until the case is resolved.
The then Moulvibazar deputy commissioner (DC), Mokhles-ur Rahman, allegedly gave Saifur’s son the piece of land valued at Tk 95,109 per acre at a “symbolic” price of Tk 5 per acre.
It is alleged that the finance minister of the immediate past BNP-led alliance government had verbally instructed the local administration to assist his son in acquiring the land.
Saifur also allegedly pushed for government-funded projects to develop transport infrastructure in the area by building roads and culverts shortly after the registration of the land in July 2002.
Mokhles recommended allocating a total of 585.45 acres of land to Babu, but Saifur’s son got 100 acres in the preliminary phase of the purchase as it is the maximum limit allowed by the land ministry.
Letters between the land ministry and the district administration obtained by The Daily Star show that Mokhles himself suggested the Tk 5 rate per acre of land as a “symbolic” price.
Talking to The Daily Star, however, Mokhles denied having made the recommendation, saying it was not in his jurisdiction but the land ministry’s.
“We spent one year communicating with the land ministry about the matter and the ministry allocated the land,” he said, adding that other parties like Bangladesh Tea Board and the district administration were involved in the agreement.
Mokhles, who recently joined the Anti-Corruption Commission as its secretary, also brushed aside allegations of favouring Saifur when he was the DC, citing that Saifur’s brother was defeated in a union parishad election during his tenure in the administrative post.
HOW BABU GOT THE LEASE
Babu applied to then state minister for land Shahjahan Omar in March 2002, seeking a lease of 524.59 acres of land at Maijdihi in Srimangal upazila of Moulvibazar to establish a tea garden.
In the application written on the letterhead pad of his Shahjalal Tea Garden Estate, Babu said people illegally occupied the state-owned land in the area and it should be handed over to him so that the state can benefit from the creation of a tea garden there.
Shahjahan Omar sent the application to Mokhles on March 11, 2002, who later sent it to the then additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Abdul Kader and assistant commissioner (land) Badrun Nahar to report on the matter.
Nahar reported back to Mokhles that the land could be leased out to Babu to increase government revenue and that the 300 families living on the khas land should be evicted.
In the preliminary stage, Moulvibazar district administration in a letter to the land ministry dated June 12, 2002 had sought approval for 212 acres of land for Babu, saying the land is very suitable for establishing a tea garden.
When the ADC (revenue) of Moulvibazar visited the area for an investigation the people living in the area manhandled him and his fellow officials.
Mokhles later recommended that the government should lease out a total of 585.45 acres of land to Babu–60 acres more than what Babu had originally sought.
Following the land ministry’s approval, the district administration leased out 100 acres of land.
Sources alleged that Mokhles recommended the additional land for getting favour from the then finance minister and his elder son Nasser Rahman.
Mokhles, who was widely reported to have acted as a private secretary to Nasser, was later promoted as joint secretary and posted at Saifur’s ministry. He later became the Chittagong divisional commissioner during the Iajuddin-led caretaker government.
It is reported that at one stage Kaiser Rahman Titu, Saifur’s second son and a director of Shahjalal Tea Garden, went to negotiate a settlement with the landless people and became sympathetic to them. He, however, failed to persuade his brother to give up his pursuit of the land.
Later, these people went to the High Court on orders of which the eviction process was abandoned. The progress of leasing out the rest of the land also halted.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Well,MR.Saifur Rahman it was not a bad deal your
son gets land worth 95 lakh for Tk 500 and Prime
Minister’s Friend Falu gets the IFIC bank with
Black money!Not bad!!!!Saifur Rahman you should be
Punished for both! One day you will pay for what
You and others did with this country!
July 9th, 2007 at 1:58 am
Probably the Son of Mr Saifur Rahman was so
much delerious with other business that He forgot to put several zeros in his issued Cheque.
Thank You