Bangladesh News

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) could have charged Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam with amassing ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 606 crore had he not whitened Tk 498 crore under the money whitening schemes offered by successive governments.

The anti-graft watchdog on Sunday finally charged him with amassing ill-gotten wealth worth only about Tk 107 crore. Alam whitened the money over the years during the rule of both Awami League and BNP.

Detained businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun also whitened Tk 30.22 crore taking the same opportunity, while his brother former lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim and his wife Mafruza Sultana whitened Tk 11 crore under 2005 SRO (Statutory Regulatory Order) on different occasions.

Like Shah Alam, Mamun and Ibrahim, many high-profile graft suspects whitened huge amount of ill-gotten wealth and ACC cannot take action against them due to legal barriers.

The commission, however, has not made an official estimate of the money whitened by the corruption suspects accused in ACC cases.

In accordance with sections 19 (a), 19 (aa), 19 (aaa), 19 (b), 19 (bb), and 19 (bbb) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 and four SROs passed since 1998, no government agency is authorised to dig into the wealth corrupt-suspects have whitened so far.

“Almost every corrupt-suspect accused by ACC has taken benefits under the sections and SROs and we’re unable to take action against them. The government offered them a chance and they utilised it,” says ACC Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam.

“You’ll find varied interpretations of the laws passed with the spirit to encourage investment in business and create employment opportunities. The governments offered the opportunity and people just seized it,” comments another ACC Public Prosecutor advocate Syed Shamim Ahsan.

“We can’t do anything when different governments gave them opportunities to whiten black money and they did it legally,” ACC Director General (Admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told The Daily Star.

“We’re following the existing laws. We can’t bypass the law when it restricts us to go into some matters,” Hanif said, adding they don’t have any plan to go to the higher court to get direction in this regard.

Lawyers however underline the necessity of directives or interpretations by the apex court to deal with the issue of corrupt-suspects facing investigation.

“Another problem in dealing with cases relating to NBR is that it’s the first time people are ever charged with issues concerning tax. And some confusion still lies with the NBR laws. Even in India example of dealing with such cases is rare and a very few of such examples can be found in the subcontinent,” adds Salam.

“So it has become a must to get direction from the apex court to reduce confusion and ensure that the issue is dealt properly.

“Investigations show black-money-whitening schemes only came in as help to the corrupt to have their ill-gotten wealth clean. The schemes encouraged them every year.”

Speaking anonymously, an ACC investigator says: “It’s not possible to come out successful in the drive against graft when various governments over the years passed laws helping the corrupt whiten ill-gotten property instead of investigating sources of their income.”

Soon after the money-whitening schemes were announced on different occasions, income of many corrupt-suspects, businesspersons, former ministers as well as lawmakers shot up a mile. They even introduced imaginative income sources like donors and tax-free businesses, according to ACC investigations and tax returns submitted to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The ACC investigations also reveal how the high-profile graft-suspects amassed property by illegal means with assistance from high-ups in the government over the years and finally got everything whitened covered by laws.

Investigators say documents and papers seized so far show a section of NBR officials, bankers and lawyers were linked to graft-suspects and made quick bucks using the money-whitening laws.

The case of the Bashundhara Group chairman can be cited as an example.

SHAH ALAM
The ACC on Sunday submitted charge sheet against Shah Alam accusing him, his wife and four sons of accumulating about Tk 107 crore beyond known sources of income. However, ACC investigations found him guilty of amassing Tk 606 crore beyond known sources of income.

Alam had whitened Tk 498 crore ill-gotten wealth by making investment in business and establishment purposes during the rules of both BNP and AL under black money whitening schemes.

Of the amount, Akbar invested Tk 474 crore as shares in different businesses and industries taking opportunity of section 19 (aaa) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, which was added after BNP came to power in 2001.

The same way he invested around Tk 24 crore in establishing houses and markets in the capital taking advantage of sections 19 (b) and 19 (bb) of the ordinance which were added after AL formed government in 1996.

Alam invested his money as shares in various businesses and establishing buildings including East West Property Development project, Bashundhara City, Bashundhara Tissue, Bashundhara Steel, Convention Centre in Gulshan, Meghna Cement, Industrial Park, Bashundhara Shopping Mall, and his residences at Gulshan, Manikganj and Banchharampur in Brahmanbaria.

As soon as the money whitening opportunity was offered, Alam’s income became more than double with introduction of imaginary donors donating money to him and his wife, investigation reveals.

The investigation has also found that Alam and his wife in the tax return submitted to NBR showed they received Tk 1 crore each as donation from two people living in Motijheel. But ACC did not find any information that might prove those people ever lived in Motijheel.

“Not only in case of Shah Alam, many former lawmakers and ministers in their tax returns showed such imaginary donors and donation. But ACC investigations in many cases found that none in those names ever lived in the areas mentioned,” says an ACC source.

The wife of former forest boss Osman Ghani in her tax return showed that 50 people donated about Tk 92 lakh to her on a same day. But none bearing those names was found in the given addresses, ACC sources add.

The sources add former AL lawmaker Habibur Rahman Mollah in his tax return shows 29 donors but the commission did not find any of those “created” persons during investigation.

The sources go on to say Alam had close connection even with the top-most post in every government and various officials in different government offices as he always managed to grab government property, rivers, canals, haors to establish real estate business.

East West Property Development Ltd was his most important source of illegal income, the sources add.

They point out that Alam had close ties with land ministry officials who at first put government property on auction and sold them to individuals, paving the way for him to buy those pieces of land from those individuals.

Alam also used to force people living around the land he bought for real estate business to sell their land, the sources say.

“Shah Alam has his own ways to encroaching land. Sometimes it was keeping contact with government high-ups and sometimes making use of goons to force people sell their land. Sometimes he even forced people to sell land at a lower price,” an ACC source says.

ACC Deputy Assistant Director Mahbubur Rahman investigated the case and submitted charge sheet before the commission for approval.

ACC Deputy Director Abdullah Al Zahid filed the case with Ramna police on December 9 accusing the Shah Alam family of amassing ill-gotten wealth worth about Tk 606 crore. The accused had showed wealth of Tk 625 crore in their wealth statements submitted to the commission.