Dr Mosharraf put on 3-day demand
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has detected more than five former ministers who siphoned off money during the BNP-Jamaat alliance rule (2001-2006).
“We’re receiving information from abroad that the former ministers siphoned off money when they were in power during 2001-2006,” ACC commissioner M Shahabuddin told a press briefing at ACC media centre in the capital on Thursday.
He said money laundering is a serious offence and the ACC has taken up the matter seriously.
Shahabuddin said it is not right that the ACC could not conduct probe the graft allegations against the political leaders who are not in power. “The Commission is carrying out probes against both the ruling party politicians and the politicians out of power,” he said.
The ACC commissioner said that there was widespread corruption in the country during the BNP-Jamaat from 2001 to 2006, and BNP leaders laundered huge money abroad. “They didn’t siphon off money to the mainland of the United Kingdom, but they laundered money to the offshore banks of the UK.”
Earlier in the day, detained BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain was taken to the ACC headquarters from Ramna Police Station around 09:45am on charge of siphoning off money abroad.
ACC investigation officer Ahsan Ali interrogated him for three hours from 10 am. Later, he was produced before a court around 2 pm and sought a three-day remand, and the court put Mosharraf on 3 days’ remand.
Earlier, on Wednesday night, a team of Gulshan Police Station picked up the BNP leader from his Gulshan residence and handed over him to Ramna Police Station.
On February 6 this year, ACC director Nasim Anwar filed a case with Ramna Police Station on charge of siphoning off money.
According to the case statement, Mosharraf Hossain laundered 8.04 lakh UK pounds (equivalent to Tk 9.54 crore) to the United Kingdom when he was health and family welfare minister during the 2001-2006 tenure of the BNP government.
Before filing the case, the anti-graft watchdog collected documents related to his graft allegations from the British government through the mutual legal assistance request (MLAR) of the Attorney General Office.
After examining the package of evidence and other documents, the ACC found that a fixed term deposit of about 8.04 lakh pounds was deposited in a joint account (AC 108492) of Dr Mosharraf and his wife Bilkis Akhter Hossain at Lloyds TSB Offshore Private Banking, Guernsey.
Dr Mosharraf and his wife opened the account in the UK bank without approval from the Bangladesh Bank, which is a violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.
Source: UNB Connect
