The Anti-Corruption Commission has failed to file any case against four high-profile corruption suspects, including former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed and former revenue board official Matiur Rahman, as it has yet to complete its probe into allegations against them.
The two other corruption suspects are former army chief general Aziz Ahmed, and former Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia.
All the four former government high officials face allegations of amassing massive illegal wealth at home and abroad and laundering money.
All the four inquiries have by now gone past the 75-day time allowed by the ACC rules to complete an inquiry.
The commission, on completion of a probe into allegations against a corruption suspect, files a case against the person on finding adequate evidence.
Officials said that the
ongoing inquiries had already found information on a huge amount of moveable and immovable assets owned by all the four corruption suspects.
Besides the sluggish pace of these much-talked-about probes, allegations of negligence are also there against its officials tasked with these inquiries.
Experts say that failure to complete the inquiries in due time would let the corruption suspects find ways out of the ACC net, limiting the commission’s scope to lay claim on the wealth they have gained allegedly through illegal means.
The commission during its inquiry found a vast amount of illegal movable and immovable assets of former police chief Benazir and former president of the NBR’s Customs, Excise, and VAT Appellate Tribunal, Matiur Rahman and their family members, but as of December 5 it has not filed any case.
Besides, there is also no visible progress in the ACC inquiries against former army chief Aziz Ahmed and former DMP chief Asaduzzaman over allegations of corruption.
Refusing allegations of negligence, anti-corruption commission director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossain told New Age, ‘We are conducting sincere probes against them and are hopeful to complete the inquiries soon.’
‘We would file case action against them based on the inquiry reports and after the approval of the commission,’ he added.
‘Delays in inquiry, investigation and trial might benefit corruption suspects,’ said Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman.
‘Failure to complete inquiry, and investigation in due time creates many scopes for corruption suspects to find ways out of the ACC net,’ he said.
Amid massive allegations of corruption, the commission on April 18 decided to run an inquiry into the assets of Benazir and his family members, but Benazir left the country 15 days after the probe had been launched.
Before his departure, the former police chief withdrew Tk 13 crore from his bank accounts and is now staying abroad along with his family.
More than seven months have elapsed now since the inquiry had begun, but the ACC inquiry team, led by its deputy director, Hafizul Islam, has yet to complete the inquiry or file a case against him despite available information about his illegal wealth, said commission officials.
According to the commission’s findings, Benazir and his family members amassed illegal wealth of around Tk 44 crore.
Of the assets, Benazir amassed illegal wealth worth around Tk 9.25 crore, and his wife Jissan Mirza owned Tk 21.34 crore.
The couple’s elder daughter, Farheen Rishta has amassed illegal wealth worth Tk 8.10 crore, and another daughter, Tahseen Raisa has become owner and wealth worth Tk 4.76 crore.
Apart from this, the inquiry also found that 25 acres of land at Bandarban Sadar was taken on lease in Benazir’s name, two plots in the names of Benazir and his wife Jissan Mirza in Munshiganj, Jissan Mirza also owned a seven-storey building at the capital’s Uttara, and six flats in Dhaka’s Adabar area.
The value of these assets was not mentioned anywhere, and the value of these assets has not been determined in the inquiry, according to the findings.
Matiur Rahman was first exposed to public scrutiny after video footage had gone viral on social media showing his second wife’s son, Mushfiqur Rahman Ifat, buying a goat for Tk 12 lakh ahead of Eid-ul-Azha this year.
The goat scandal involving his son brought his assets under the anti-corruption agency’s scrutiny on June 4 of this year for the fifth time in the past two decades.
In 2004, the commission launched the first inquiry against Matiur, while it conducted three more inquiries in 2008, 2013 and 2021 without any breakthrough.
The ACC officials allegedly gave Matiur clean chits in each of the four inquiries due to his influence.
During the ongoing inquiry, the commission found evidence of 3,523 decimals of land, and shares of 19 companies, and Tk 13.44 crore in 116 bank accounts and 23 beneficiary owner’s accounts owned by Matiur and his family members.
The commission also found his eight apartments in Dhaka, a multi-storey building in the capital’s Bashundhara residential area.
The anti-corruption commission, on August 18, decided to conduct an inquiry against former Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief Asaduzzaman Mia over allegations of amassing illegal wealth.
More than three months have elapsed, but the commission’s inquiry team is yet to complete the inquiry against Asaduzzaman.
According to the allegations, Asaduzzaman’s family took advantage of legalising undisclosed money by investing in the real estate sector and hid information to get a Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha plot.
His daughter, Ayesha Siddika, legalised Tk 1.72 crore by purchasing a flat in 2020, while his wife, Afroza Zaman, got a 7-katha plot under a special provision by violating the rule.
Media reports said that Asaduzzaman and his family members own a huge amount of wealth, including flats, plots, and houses.
In Dhaka, his wife owns a house and two flats and his daughter owns a flat.
Moreover, 233 decimals of land have been found in the names of Asaduzzaman’s wife and children in Gazipur and Narayanganj districts.
The commission, on September 4, decided to carry out an inquiry against former army chief retired General Aziz Ahmed over allegations of amassing massive illegal wealth.
No visible progress has been made so far in the probe against the retired general.
According to the allegations, Aziz has several houses, including in DOHS at Mirpur and Nikunja in Dhaka.
He also allegedly purchased houses and several hundred bigha of land in the names of his younger brothers, including Tofayel Ahmed in Dhaka.
Aziz also laundered money through hundi and banking channels for business purposes and purchasing property in Malaysia, Singapore, and Dubai, according to commission officials.
Corruption allegations against Aziz came to the fore after the United States imposed sanctions on him and his immediate family members on May 21, citing his alleged involvement in serious corruption.
New Age
