ACC sues ex-GM of Bapex

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed a case against a former general manager of Bapex for helping his wife amass Tk 1.10 crore worth of wealth beyond their known source of income.

ACC Deputy Director Helal Uddin Sharif filed the case with Ramna Police Station yesterday afternoon against AKM Anwarul Islam, former GM of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex), accusing him of helping his wife Farida Yasmin amass the illegal wealth.

Last year, the ACC submitted a charge sheet in another case filed against Anwarul for amassing around Tk 32 lakh worth of wealth beyond his known source of income.

According to the case statement, on September 5 in 2016, Farida submitted her wealth statement to the ACC after it had served her a notice on August 24, 2016, seeking her wealth statement.

In her statement to the ACC, Farida mentioned that she had a net wealth worth Tk 150.53 lakh (Tk 58.02 lakh movable property and Tk 92.51 lakh immovable property) that she acquired from her husband and from house rentals. She did not declare any liabilities in the statement.

However, during an enquiry, the ACC found that Farida had concealed Tk 4 lakh in an account with First Security Islami Bank.

Moreover, scrutinizing her tax return files that she had submitted to the NBR between 2005-06 and 2015-16 fiscal years, the ACC found that Farida had Tk 43.6 lakh worth of net wealth during that period.

Therefore, adding the concealed Tk 4 lakh found in her bank, Farida's net wealth should have been Tk 154.53 lakh, resulting in a discrepancy of Tk 110.93 lakh in net wealth between the statement she submitted to the ACC and her tax returns, ACC Deputy Director Helal Uddin mentioned in the FIR.

“She amassed the wealth beyond known source of income and concealed the information of Tk 4 lakh. Her husband AKM Anwarul Islam abetted her amass the illegal wealth and conceal the information… Through this they have committed punishable offence as per the corresponding Act,” reads the FIR.