141 acres turn 1.41
Like former health minister Ruhal Haque, ruling Awami League lawmaker Aslamul Haque claimed that his land property had mistakenly been shown much more than the actual in his wealth statement submitted to the Election Commission last year.
At the capital's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) headquarters, Aslamul told reporters that his income tax adviser had mistakenly mentioned his land volume as 141 acres instead of 1.41 acres.
Five years ago, Aslamul in his wealth statement had claimed to be educated up to class-VIII and had five acres of land. Ahead of the January 5 polls, he claimed that he had enrolled in a BBA programme and owned 141 acres of land.
An alleged land grabber, Aslamul, 52, however, did not mention his two power plants in the wealth statement.
The graft watchdog yesterday grilled him over his alleged amassing of wealth illegally in the last five years. ACC Deputy Director Sheikh Mesbah interrogated Aslamul for two hours, beginning from 10:00am.
On February 24, former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque stated that his wife's bank balance had by mistake been put at Tk 7.53 crore in place of Tk 45.17 lakh in his wealth statement. He too was questioned on the same grounds as Aslamul.
A lawmaker from Dhaka-14 constituency, Aslamul told reporters that he had informed the ACC enquiry officer about the mistake in the wealth statement.
An ACC commissioner told journalists that the anti-graft body would verify the information in the wealth statement and probe whether Aslamul had any property beyond what he had mentioned in the wealth statement.
The ACC on January 22 launched a probe into the corruption allegations against five former ministers and lawmakers, and two incumbent MPs, including Aslamul.
The commission had interrogated former minister Ruhal Haque, AL lawmaker Abdul Rahman Bodi, former state minister for water resources Mahbubur Rahman, and former state minister for housing and public affairs Abdul Mannan Khan.
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