Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 1105 Tue. July 10, 2007  
   
Front Page


Ill-gotten Wealth
Charges framed against ex-BNP lawmaker Munshi, his family
Falu, wife sued for submitting false wealth report


A special court yesterday framed charges against former lawmaker Monjurul Ahsan Munshi, his wife Sajeda Ahsan and two sons Rijwanul Ahsan and Rijviul Ahsan for illegally accumulating wealth and concealing information about their assets in the statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

A case was filed against BNP leader and former lawmaker from Dhaka-10 constituency Mosaddek Ali Falu and his wife on Sunday night on charges of submitting false wealth statements to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and concealing information about their wealth.

Police yesterday submitted charge sheet to a Gazipur court against detained BNP leader Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah, his son Rezaul Hannan and five others in connection with an extortion case.

The ACC yesterday sought a seven-day remand to interrogate detained former BNP lawmaker M Naser Rahman in connection with a graft case while a Dhaka court allowed ACC to interrogate Sonali Bank CBA leader BM Bakir Hossain at jail gate.

Four witnesses gave judicial statements to Dhaka court in connection with an extortion case filed against detained former communications minister barrister Nazmul Huda, his wife Sigma Huda and Alena Khan.

Proceedings of money laundering and theft case against Huda and former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed were adjourned yesterday following time petitions from the prosecution and the defence.

MUNSHI CASE
According to the allegation brought against Munshi by the ACC, the former lawmaker possessed assets worth Tk 5.37 crore beyond his known sources of income and concealed information of his assets worth Tk 3.13 crore in the wealth statement, BSS reported.

Sajeda Ahsan and her two sons were charged for helping Munshi in earning the wealth illegally.

Earlier, Munshi and his wife Sajeda were produced before the court from jail custody.

Other two accused were not present during the charge framing as they were on bail. However their legal representative was appeared on their behalf.

Judge of the special court Mohammad Ahsraf Hossain read out the charge brought against them, but the accused Munshi and his wife Sajeda prayed justice denying the allegations.

Abu Sayeed, deputy director of the ACC, filed the case against them on March 27 with Gulshan Police Station.

After investigation, a charge sheet was submitted before the court accusing them on June 17 and the case was transferred to the special court for trial on June 26.

FALU CASE
ACC Assistant Director Rahela Khatun filed the case with Motijheel Police Station on Sunday night, reported our staff correspondent.

In the FIR (first information report), the complainant mentioned that the amount of wealth mentioned in their statements does not match with their actual properties.

Falu's wife Mahbuba Sultana was made an accused of the case for abetting her husband.

The complainant said Falu in the wealth statement mentioned that he owns movable and immovable properties worth around Tk 42 crore.

But the ACC investigation found that Falu has Tk 15.97 crore wealth, which he did not mention in the wealth statement.

HANNAN CASE
Sub-Inspector Mokhlesur Rahman, investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to Gazipur Cognisance Court-2, reported our Gazipur correspondent.

MH Noman, owner of a vehicle of Bhawal Paribahan, filed the case with Kapashia Police Station on May 19.

NASER CASE
ACC Deputy Director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, yesterday submitted a seven-day remand prayer to interrogate Naser, son of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman.

In his forwarding report, the IO said he would quiz Naser to gather information about his ill-gotten wealth, his sources of income and whereabouts of the wealth.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon fixed tomorrow for hearing on the remand prayer and directed the jail authorities to produce Naser before the court during the hearing.

On May 27, ACC Deputy Director Moniruzzaman Khan filed the case with Gulshan Police Station against Naser and his wife Rizina Naser for submitting false statements to the ACC about their wealth.

In the case statement, the complainant said Naser and his wife did not mention properties worth Tk 4.90 crore in their wealth statements.

Naser is now in jail while his wife did not get bail from any court.

BAKIR CASE
The same court yesterday allowed the ACC to interrogate BM Bakir Hossain at Dhaka Central Jail gate in connection with a graft case filed with Motijheel Police Station.

The court passed the order after ACC Deputy Director Jiban Krishna Roy submitted a petition to interrogate Bakir at jail gate.

On May 30, ACC filed the case against Bakir and his wife Nazma Hossain for concealing wealth while submitting the statement to the ACC.

ACC Assistant Director Mohammad Jahangir Alam filed the case saying wealth of more than Tk 1.25 crore of the couple was not included in their statement.

Bakir is now in custody while his wife is still at large.

HUDA'S EXTORTION CASE
Four prosecution witnesses gave judicial statements to a metropolitan magistrate in connection with an extortion case filed with Tejgaon Police Station.

The witnesses are Munzur Ahmed Bhuiyan, Abul Kashem, Mohammad Nur-e-Alam and Mohammad Babul.

The IO Sub-Inspector (SI) Yunus Ali produced the witnesses before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka and prayed for recording their statements.

Following the petition, the CMM assigned Metropolitan Magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah for recording their statements.

According to the case filed on June 26, Huda called Wahidur Rahman Azad, a contractor of the Roads and Highways (R&H) Department, to BSEHR (Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights) office in February 2003 and demanded Tk 10 lakh in cash.

Huda also gave an alternative to Azad, asking him to construct a conference room for the organisation.

Azad said he agreed to build the conference room due to continuous pressure from Huda and it cost him Tk 5.5 lakh.

HUDA'S THEFT CASE
A Dhaka court adjourned the proceedings of a theft case against Huda and two others until July 17 following a time petition by the prosecution.

First Class Magistrate Delwara Begum directed the authorities concerned to ask the complainant of the case to appear before the court on that date.

On May 17, Police Inspector Syed Nazrul Islam, also the IO of the case, submitted charge sheet to a first class magistrate's court in Dhaka against Huda and two others showing 17 people as prosecution witnesses.

On March 6, Mohammad Salahuddin from Nurpur under Dohar upazila in Dhaka alleged that Huda and his men beat him up severely on October 28 last year.

As per Huda's instruction, the two also took away Tk 17,700 from his possession and ordered him not to tell anyone about the incident.

SALAHUDDIN CASE
Another Dhaka court yesterday adjourned proceedings of a money laundering case against former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed until Sunday following a time petition by the prosecution.

The joint forces raided Salahuddin's Shyampur residence in the capital on February 4 and seized a large sum of foreign currencies.

Following the seizure, police filed a case against the former lawmaker under the Money Laundering Act. The IO pressed charges against him on May 16.

Meanwhile, our Bogra correspondent reported that the government recently froze bank account of Tayfiza Khatun, second wife of Giasuddin, former BNP lawmaker from Narayanganj, and their son Sanvee and seized Tk 10 lakh deposited against their names with the Sabgram Branch of Rupali Bank of the district.

An official of the bank told reporters yesterday that the account was closed and the money was seized in May as per the government's instruction.

Tayfiza, a resident of Narulee area on the outskirts of Bogra, is now absconding.