Manju, family sued for graft
Nasim, wife indicted
Staff Correspondent
Two graft cases have been filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against former communications minister Anwar Hossain Manju, his wife Tasnima Hossain, their daughter Shima Hossain and another person.The cases were filed with Dhanmondi and Ramna police stations in the capital on Wednesday accusing them of taking Tk 1 crore and Tk 75 lakh in bribe from two construction firms. The other accused in the cases is Mahmood Hossain, executive director of Aegis Textile Mills Ltd. In the case filed with Ramna Police Station, ACC Assistant Director Sheikh Faiaz Alam said the accused persons in connivance with each other took Tk 75 lakh in bribe from China National Overseas Engineering Corporation sometime between February 13 and February 18, 2001 to get them secure work order of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD). Manju was then communications minister. The complainant mentioned that liaison officer of the company Taherul Islam Patwari handed over the bribe to the accused. In the first information report (FIR) filed with Dhanmondi Police Station, Faiaz complained that the same accused persons took Tk 1 crore in bribe from Al-Amin Construction Company Ltd sometime between February 20 and February 23, 2002 to let the company win work order of the RHD. The FIR further said Managing Director of the company Amin Ahmed Bhuiyan paid the money to Manju through two pay orders. Both the cases were filed under Section 5 (2) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1947, Section 109 of the Bangladesh Penal Code and Section 15 of the Emergency Power Rules. UNB adds: Detained former minister and Awami League leader Mohammad Nasim and his wife were yesterday indicted by a special court in a graft case. The court fixed August 1 for commencing trial in the case. Nasim and his wife Laila Arzumand Banu, now free on bail, pleaded not guilty and sought justice when Judge M Firoze Alam read out the charges to them in the dock. Earlier, after briefly hearing both sides, the court rejected the defense plea for discharging the case. On March 21, Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Director Akhter Hossain filed the case against the Nasim couple with Dhanmondi Police Station for furnishing “false information” in their wealth statements submitted to the ACC. In the case, the ACC official alleged that the couple in their statements concealed information about their wealth worth Tk 1.26 crore.
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