Another Dhaka court yesterday issued arrest warrant against Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, in connection with a money laundering case.

Prayer for opening a bank locker of detained former BNP lawmaker M Naser Rahman and his wife Rezina Naser where they deposited ill-gotten wealth and ornaments was granted yesterday.

MAMUN'S GRAFT CASE
Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon placed Mamun, close friend of BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman, on a seven-day remand to interrogate him about his illegal wealth.

Earlier, Mamun was on remand for 55 days in the extortion cases filed with different police stations on different dates and later he was sent to Dhaka Central Jail.

The court passed the order after ACC Assistant Director Tahsinul Haq, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, produced him before it and sought a 15-day remand petition for interrogation.

On May 8, ACC Assistant Director Mohammad Ibrahim filed the graft case against Mamun and his wife Shahina Yasmin.

In the FIR (first information report), the complainant said Mamun and his wife illegally amassed movable and immovable properties worth over Tk 62.21 crore.

Mamun was arrested at his DOHS home in the city on March 26. Police also seized a foreign pistol with eight bullets there. He was earlier convicted in two cases-- one filed for not submitting his wealth statement to the ACC and the other for possessing illegal firearms and ammunition-- and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

He was shown arrested in 10 other extortion cases. He gave confessional statements implicating Tarique in most of the cases.

CASE AGAINST HARRIS
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haq of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court accepted the charge sheet of the money laundering case and issued arrest warrant against Harris, as he has absconding since the case was filed.

After scrutinising the case docket and other relevant documents of the case, the court passed the order. The court fixed July 23 for next hearing of the case.

On July 1, Sub-inspector (SI) Babul Hossain of Gulshan Police Station, also the IO, submitted the charge sheet to the CMM's Court, showing 18 people as prosecution witnesses.

The IO prayed for issuance of arrest warrant against Harris and ordered to attach his properties.

On February 4, the joint forces seized two briefcases from Harris' Gulshan home.

The briefcases were opened on April 2 in presence of Metropolitan Magistrate Mir Ali Reza and foreign currencies were found in it, sources said.

According to the statement, Harris hoarded foreign currencies worth around Tk 5.64 lakh with a plan to smuggle those abroad.

On April 9, Gulshan police filed the case against Harris under the Money Laundering Act.

On May 22, a special court sentenced Harris to three years' imprisonment for not submitting his wealth statements to the Anti-corruption Commission.

CASE AGAINST ABBAS
The same court accepted the charge sheet of the money laundering case filed against former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas.

The court fixed Monday for hearing of the case and directed jail authorities concerned to produce before the court on the scheduled date.

On July 16, Motijheel police submitted the charge sheet against Mirza Abbas to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka, showing 14 people as prosecution witnesses.

The case was filed against him under the Special Powers Act, Money Laundering Act and Excise Act on February 24.

The joint forces seized a huge sum in local and foreign currencies and other items from Mirza Abbas' South Shahjahanpur residence in the capital on February 4.

The items seized include sales slips for gold ornaments worth Tk 40 lakh, 4,600 US dollars, 17,000 bahts, 418 Singapore dollars, 432 Malaysian ringgits, several mobile phone sets and five passports.

Complainant of the case Sub-Inspector Rafiqul Islam alleged that Abbas had kept those in his possession evading a huge amount of taxes.

CASE AGAINST NASER
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jalal Ahmed yesterday assigned Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraf Uddin to conduct the operation of opening the locker of Naser and his wife in where their ill-gotten wealth and ornaments are kept.

In his forwarding report, the IO said the locker at the Standard Chartered Bank's Gulshan Branch was earlier frozen and it needs to be opened to assess the value of those.

The locker will not be opened in absence of any magistrate, the IO said.