The Anti-Corruption Commission has found illegal assets worth Tk 60.55 crore amassed by former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, his wife, and two children between July 1, 1997 and August 13 this year.
The commission had also found information of transactions of Tk 416 crore in 36 bank accounts in the name of the former home minister and his family members during the same period, ACC director general (prevention) Akhtar Hossain said on Wednesday.
The ACC on Wednesday filed four cases with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 against Asaduzzaman Khan, his wife Lutful Tahmina Khan, son Shafi Modasser Khan and daughter Shafiya Tasnim Khan on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 60 crore and money laundering, the ACC DG said.
This is the first case since beginning inquiries by the ACC against a number of former Awami League lawmakers, ministers and leaders after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.
Besides, ACC also filed another case against Asaduzzaman’s former assistant personal secretary, Md Monir Hossain, on charge of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 18.82 crore. Apart from this, illegal transactions of Tk 31.31 crore have also been found in 12 banks in the name of Monir Hossain.
Asaduzzaman, now facing several murder cases, has been in hiding since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. The BFIU on August 13 decided to freeze bank accounts in the names of the ex-home minister and his family members.
The former minister’s son Shafi Modasser Khan, who was arrested in an attempt to murder case in the past month, is now in jail.
Of the five cases against the ex-minister, his family members and APS Monir, ACC deputy director Jahangir Alam filed a case against Asaduzzaman on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 16.41 crore.
Deputy director Joynal Abedin filed a case against Lutfa Tahmina Khan on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 15.46 crore.
Assistant director Abul Kalam Azad filed a case against Shafi Modasser Khan on charges of accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk 19.89 crore while its assistant director Zinatul Islam filed a case against Shafiya Tasnim Khan over allegations of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 8.77 crore.
ACC assistant director Nasrullah Hossain filed another case against ex-APS Md Monir Hossain on charges of amassing wealth worth Tk 18.82 crore beyond known sources of income.
Asaduzzaman is the lone accused in the first case, while he is co-accused in the other four cases. He was elected lawmaker for the first time in 2008 from Dhaka-11 constituency, and appointed state minister for home on January 12, 2014.
He held the post of home minister until the fall of the AL regime since his promotion as home minister on July 14, 2015.
On August 18, the ACC decided to initiate inquiries against Asaduzzaman and five other officials of his ministry for their alleged involvement in bribery in appointment.
The five others are Asaduzzaman’s former personal secretary Md Harun-Or-Rashid Biswas, Public Security division deputy secretary Dhananjoy Kumar Das, Security Services Division administrative officer Mollah Ibrahim Hossain, APS Monir, and the ministry’s public relations officer Sharif Mahmud Apu.
Although cases were filed against Asaduzzaman and APS Monir, the inquiries against four others were still under inquiry, ACC officials said.
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