ACC sources said the eight people named in the case allocated 493 shops
Former Dhaka City mayor and BNP vice chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka has been named in another case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission for allegedly violating the law and misusing power while in office.
The anti graft body yesterday filed a case against eight former and current officials of Dhaka City Corporation, including Khoka, for their involvement in irregularities in the allocation of shops at the DCC-owned Dhaka Trade Centre in Gulistan.
ACC commissioner M Shahabuddin told reporters that ACC Assistant Director Mahbubul Alam filed the case with Shahbagh police station for alleged irregularities in the allocation of shops at Gulistan hawkers’ market, now known as the Dhaka Trade Centre.
The other accused are former chief estate officer of DCC, Mashiar Rahman; former estate officers, Mahsin Uddin Moral and Sahabuddin Sabu; former Kanongo, Mohammad Ali; and surveyors, Mohammad Bachu Mia, Farroque Hossain and Motaleb Hossain.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the accused allocated many of the municipality market’s shops illegally, and in collusion with each other, for a monthly rent of Tk15 per square feet. To conceal irregularities they deliberately misplaced the main allotment documents that were supposed to be kept at the estate department, the case statement said.
ACC sources said the eight people named in the case allocated 493 shops.
According to the Local Government (city corporation) Act 2009, city corporation officials cannot lease city corporation-owned land or space without the prior approval of the government.
In addition to the shop allotment irregularities, the accused also allotted basement spaces and car park spaces temporarily and for free to people known to them in violation of the law, the FIR reads.
BNP vice chairman Khoka has been named in a number of cases by the anti graft body.
In March 2012, the ACC sued Khoka and six others for causing a Tk827cr loss to the state exchequer because of alleged corruption between 2007 and 2009 in connection with a multi-storey car park project in the Dilkusha area of the capital.
In February 2012, the ACC filed a case against Khoka and three others, accusing them of misappropriating Tk37.19 lakh by leasing out the car park of a DCC market in the city’s Banani neighbourhood. In November of the same year, the ACC charge-sheeted Khoka.
Khoka served as mayor of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) from April 2002 until just before Dhaka City Corporation was divided into two city corporations in November 2011.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
