BNP leader Mosharraf charged

The Anti-Corruptin Commission yesterday pressed charges against BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a case filed in connection with siphoning off over Tk 9.53 crore to the United Kingdom.
ACC Director Nasim Anwar, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka and also showed eight people as prosecution witnesses in it.
The former health and family welfare minister is now in jail.
On August 7, the ACC approved the charge sheet in the case, which was filed on February 6 this year.
ACC probes found Mosharraf amassed the amount through corruption during his stint as health minister from 2001 to 2006.
Later, the BNP leader told the investigation officer that he earned the money while studying in the UK between 1970 and 1975 but failed to show any document that would support his statement.
According to the charge sheet, Mosharraf and his wife Bilkis Akhter had allegedly deposited the money in a joint account--108492-- with Lloyds TSB Offshore Private Banking, St Peterport, UK.
It also found that the bank account was opened after 1994 using a diplomatic passport.
The couple violated a rule of Bangladesh Bank that says every citizen needs the bank's permission to open an account with any foreign bank, according to ACC sources.
However, Bilkis's name was not included in the charge sheet as the investigators did not find her direct involvement in the matter, added the sources.