Trackback URL
Download PDF A former deputy manager of Titas Gas owns wealth worth over Tk 100 crore, including multi-storey buildings, import and food-manufacturing businesses, about 150 kathas of land, three luxury cars and bank balance of over Tk 10 crore, a task force investigation found.
Officials of the National Coordination Committee task force said Md Emdadul Haque amassed the wealth through corruption during his eight-year service at Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Co Ltd.
Talking to The Daily Star, however, Emdad denied all the allegations of corruption against him, saying, “I never took a taka from Titas Gas illegally.”
The former Titas Gas official who now owns businesses also challenged the authenticity of the task force’s information and said most of the properties mentioned are owned by his wife’s father and uncles while he purchased some other properties with bank loans.
Hailing from Jhalakathi, Emdad joined Titas Gas in 1987. He left Titas and joined Petrobangla in 1995 and voluntarily resigned from the job in 1997.
Replying to a query, he said he made some properties through the profits from his import business in 10 years. He also supplies in-flight utilities to Bangladesh Biman, he said.
According to the task force investigation, Emdad has a six-storey building on 7 kathas of land at Banani in the name of his wife Sajedatul Mowla, a six-storey building on 5 kathas of land and a one-storey building on 3 kathas of land at Pallabi, and 15 kathas of land at Bashundhara.
He also owns a multi-storey factory for manufacturing food and 4 bighas of lowland at Savar, and land worth Tk 2.80 crore at Banani. He has a deposit of Tk 8 crore with the VIP Road branch of Oriental Bank and Protirakkha Sanchay Patra (defence savings certificate) worth Tk 1.35 crore at the Dhanmondi branch of Standard Chartered Bank.
Emdad and his wife have a huge amount of money in savings and current accounts with Standard Chartered Bank, while Emdad has a deposit of $1.37 lakh (equivalent to Tk 93,16,000) at HSBC Bank, task force officials said.
Emdad, however, denied having any savings with these banks. He also said he does not have the defence savings certificates now.
The investigation found that Emdad also has three latest model cars and he went abroad around 50 times during the last seven years.
Emdad told The Daily Star that he could not complete the construction of the six-storey building at Banani because of lack of money while his father-in-law and his brothers own the six-storey building at Pallabi.
He also said he does not own the one-storey building at Pallabi while 15 kathas of land at Bashundhara has already been sold out.
On the food-manufacturing factory at Savar, he said, “The project is funded by Janata Bank.”
Emdad, however, admitted his ownership of 80 kathas of land at Savar and said he bought it at a low price “for the next generation”.
He said he visited his two brothers in London only five-six times. He has two cars–one for the Janata Bank project and another is seven years old, he added.
Earlier, the task force found Titas Gas sales assistant Abdul Kadir Mollah to be the owner of wealth worth Tk 2,100 crore.
A total of 135 staff of Titas Gas have admitted their involvement in corruption. Of them 124 have refunded their illegally earned properties worth over Tk 350 crore.
Comments are not moderated and only expresses personal views of visitors. BangladeshNews.com.bd is not responsible for commets posted by visitors.
Leave a Reply