A fresh petition was submitted on Tuesday to the Anti-Corruption Commission seeking an inquiry into the allegations of amassing illegal wealth by former army chief general Aziz Ahmed.
Meanwhile, the ACC was going to issue an asset declaration notice to former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed and his family as a part of its inquiry over their alleged illegal wealth, said an ACC official involved in the inquiry.
Supreme Court lawyer Salahuddin Reagan filed a petition with the ACC headquarters on Tuesday referring to a newspaper report on Aziz’s wealth, requesting the ACC chairman to launch an inquiry.
Contacted, Reagan told New Age ‘I’ve submitted a petition to the ACC earlier seeking an inquiry over the graft allegations against general Aziz and his brothers.’
‘Today I submitted another petition to the ACC seeking an inquiry into the illegal wealth of the former army chief,’ he added.
Reagan also said that the ACC took steps over graft charges against Aziz’s two brothers following his petition, but it did not take a decision for an inquiry against Aziz till now.
‘If the ACC does not take any initiative, a writ petition will be filed with the High Court,’ he further said.
However, when asked, ACC secretary Khorshida Yasmeen declined to make any comment about the petition seeking an inquiry into Aziz’s wealth.
A Bangla daily published a report on June 5 mentioning that Aziz and his family members had amassed wealth, including a number of multi-storey buildings, flats, plots and other land.
However, the former army chief Aziz told New Age that most of the information mentioned in the report regarding his properties was ‘false and fabricated’.
An investigation had been launched into the alleged passport and NID card forgery against Aziz’s siblings Haris Ahmed and Tofael Ahmed.
The ACC sent letters to the Election Commission and the Department of Immigration and Passports in the past week to investigate the allegations.
The EC on Sunday formed a committee with three members of its National Identity Card wing to investigate how Haris and Tofael, also known as Joseph, obtained NID cards using false information.
Aziz was Bangladesh’s army chief between 2018 and 2021.
Meanwhile, an ACC official said that the commission would issue an asset declaration notice to Benazir Ahmed and his family.
The ACC official also said, ‘If they [Benazir and his family] do not comply with the notice, a case will be filed against them.’
The ACC, based on a media report, decided on April 18 to investigate the allegations of amassing illegal wealth by Benazir and his family.
On May 28, the ACC summoned them, but neither Benazir nor his family members appeared before it on June 6 and 9.
Later, the ACC fixed a fresh date on June 23 and 24, asking them to come before the commission.
Benazir and the family, however, reportedly left the country on May 4 amid allegations of acquiring illegal wealth and money laundering.
On December 10, 2021, the United States declared then police chief Benazir ineligible for entry to the country for ‘gross violations of human rights’ while serving as the Rapid Action Battalion director general.
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