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Download PDF A Dhaka court yesterday sent three former and present secretaries of different ministries and a former Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) director to jail after they surrendered before the court in connection with a graft case regarding the selling of 18 abandoned government houses.
The case was filed on May 29 in connection with the selling of houses at a low price that caused Tk 127.64 crore loss to the government coffer.
Meanwhile, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against detained BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs adviser to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, her assignment officer Firoz Mahmud Iqbal and five former high officials of Oriental Bank Ltd in three corruption cases.
CASE AGAINST SECRETARIES
The people who surrendered before the court are former Rajuk chairman and incumbent Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Shahid Alam, former housing and public works secretaries Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury and SM Jafarullah and former Rajuk director Golam Nabi.
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court sent them to jail after the four along with their lawyers appeared before it.
Their lawyers told the court that their clients were not involved in graft and they appeared before the court following arrest warrants issued against them.
The same court on September 25 issued arrest warrants against former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam and 20 others in a graft case.
The four who surrendered yesterday and 21 others, including former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas and former Rajuk director Humayun Khan, are accused of causing a loss of Tk 127.64 crore to the government exchequer. They allegedly sold 18 abandoned government houses at a low price.
Abbas and Humayun are now in jail. They were produced before the court yesterday during the hearing.
The ACC filed the case against Abbas and 11 others on May 29. The names of Harris, Amir Khasru and 11 others were later added in the charge sheet as investigation found their involvement in the case.
On September 20, ACC Assistant Director Khairul Huda submitted the charge sheet against Mirza Abbas, Amir Khasru, Harris, three former secretaries and a number of high officials of Rajuk and Public Works Department (PWD).
CASE AGAINST SQ CHY
ACC Deputy Director Moniruzzaman yesterday for the first time pressed charges against former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury for concealing his wealth of over Tk 1.17 crore in the statement submitted to the commission on February 25.
Monir, who is also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), showing 47 people as prosecution witnesses.
On June 13, ACC Assistant Director SMM Akhter Hamid Bhuiyan filed the case with Ramna Police Station, accusing Salahuddin of hiding two cars valued over Tk 1.17 crore in his wealth statement.
According to the first information report (FIR), Salahuddin purchased a Range Rover (Chatro Metro-Gha-02-0010) in 1995 for Tk 24,98,740 using the duty-free car purchase privilege of lawmakers. In January 2003, he purchased a Lexus (Dhaka Metro-Bha-14-0096) through Leasing and Financial Services Ltd for Tk 92,48,400.
CASE AGAINST FIROZ
ACC Deputy Director Akhter Hossain, who is also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet against Firoz Mahmud Iqbal with the CMM court yesterday in a case filed in connection with failing to submit the wealth statement within the ACC deadline.
The IO also prayed for the issuance of arrest warrant against Firoz.
On August 5, ACC Deputy Director Syed Iqbal Hossain filed the case with Ramna Police Station under section 26(2)(Ka) of the ACC Act, 2004.
According to the FIR, the ACC sent a letter to Firoz on July 8 telling him to submit his wealth statement within seven working days.
The ACC extended the deadline by another seven days as Iqbal’s wife Imtiaz Begum applied for time extension on July 15. But, Firoz failed to submit his wealth statement within the extended time.
CASE AGAINST EX BANK OFFICIALS
ACC Assistant Director Rafiquzzaman, also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet against five former officials of Oriental Bank Ltd., showing 14 people as prosecution witnesses.
The charge-sheeted accused are ex senior vice-president of Oriental Bank Shah Mohammad Harun, ex assistant vice-president Mohammad Fazlur Rahman, ex senior executive vice-president Mahmud Hossain, ex executive vice-president Kamrul Islam and former deputy managing director Imamul Haq.
The IO prayed for issuance of arrest warrants against them, as they have been absconding since the case was filed against them.
ACC Assistant Director Abdul Latif filed the case against them with Motijheel Police Station on December 29 last year in connection with embezzling Tk 95 lakh from the principal office at Motijheel in the city.
The accused in collusion with others, submitting fake documents, drew the amount from the bank through six cheques on different dates and embezzled the money, the FIR said.
CASE AGAINST TANVIR
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court yesterday issued an arrest warrant against Tanvir Ahmed, son of detained former BNP lawmaker from Demra, Dhaka Salahuddin Ahmed, after National Board of Revenue (NBR) filed a tax evasion case.
Assistant Tax Commissioner Moniruzzaman of NBR filed the case saying Tanvir evaded Tk 30,20,411 of tax between 2005 and 2007.
CASE AGAINST FALU
The same court yesterday fixed October 4 for the next hearing of a case filed in connection with embezzlement of government relief materials by now detained former BNP lawmaker Mossaddak Ali Falu and 15 others.
On September 17, ACC Assistant Director Sheikh Abdus Salam submitted the charge sheet against Falu, four Dhaka City Corporation ward commissioners and 11 others.
Of them, Falu, Anwar Hossain, headmaster of Tejgaon Community Centre Adarsha High School and Nazir Ahmed, MLSS of DCC Ward-37, are now in jail.
On March 2, security personnel recovered 605 corrugated iron sheets and 63 blankets meant for relief at Ruhul Amin’s office in Tejgaon.
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