ACC sues ex-adviser Justice Fazlul Haque

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Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed a case against former adviser to caretaker government Justice Fazlul Haque on charges of amassing assets illegally and providing false information in his wealth statement.

First against any former or incumbent caretaker government’s adviser, the graft case was filed with Ramna Police Station.

According to the first information report (FIR), Justice Haque held back information about moveable and immovable property worth around Tk 97.37 lakh. Those assets do not match up with his known sources of income.

As an adviser to President Iajuddin Ahmed-led caretaker administration, Justice Haque held the law, justice and parliamentary affairs, forest and environment, and land portfolios from October 2006 to January last year.

An ACC investigation found that Haque has a portion of his ill-gotten gains deposited in bank accounts of his son Afzal Hossain Raj, son-in-law Tariqur Rahman Prince and son’s friends Abdul Malek, Sujaul Hasan Sujan and Ataul Haque.

“He [Fazlul Haque] had made transactions of over Tk 12.99 crore between different bank accounts in the names of those mentioned above,” read the FIR.

This apart, he had money stashed away abroad through his London expatriate daughter and her husband, the case statement said.

He laid out a good amount to buy automobiles and flats. Besides, a portion of the money remains invested in Justice Fazlul Haque Welfare Foundation.

As per tax returns, Justice Haque’s net wealth totalled Tk 1.12 lakh in 1984-1985, Tk 33.37 lakh in 2001-2002 and Tk 67.83 lakh in 2005-2006 tax years.

After retirement as an Appellate Division judge, he had wealth worth around Tk 67.83 lakh.

But during his stint as the adviser, his assets rose to stand at Tk 1.14 crore in tax year 2006-2007 and 1.24 crore in 2007-2008, which primary investigations found had been earned through dishonest means.

In the income tax return filed for tax year 2007-2008, he did not submit any documents to back up his claim of having liabilities amounting to Tk 28 lakh, and this all was done to conceal information of his actual wealth.

The case was filed under sections 26(2) and 27(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act-2004 and section 5(2) of article 2 of the Corruption Prevention Act-1947 and section 15 of Emergency Power Rules-2007.

On October 23 last year, the joint forces conducted a five-hour raid on Justice Haque’s Al-Baraka Tower apartment in the city’s Kataban area and quizzed the former adviser for hours.

Earlier on October 4, his name came up on the ACC list of graft suspects.

He made a fortune out of a “trade in appointments and postings of public servants”. He allegedly received Tk 80 lakh in bribe to arrange for a forest official’s transfer while Tk 45 lakh from Bashundhara Group to allocate them 84 acres of khas land.

Although nine advisers including President Iajuddin Ahmed, the then chief adviser, resigned their posts on January 11, Fazlul Haque, the senior most among them, did not quit and continued to claim to be an adviser even after a new advisory council had taken over.

UNB adds: The ACC will serve notices on Fazlul Haque’s son Afzal Hossain Raj, son-in-law Tariqur, Raj’s friend Sujon, and Abdul Malek, an official of the Justice Fazlul Haque Foundation.

In the graft case, the four were accused of aiding and abetting Justice Haque in his illegal income.

“Yes, the commission today approved the issuance of notices on them, directing them to submit wealth statements,” ACC Director General (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal said.

He said the ACC has also decided to serve notice on Khandaker Azadur Rahman, former additional chief engineer of Roads and Highways, asking him to report his wealth to the anti-graft body.

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