ACC to submit charge sheet against alleged gold smuggler
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is going to submit the charge sheet in a case filed against an alleged gold smuggler for amassing wealth worth about Tk 41 crore beyond his known source of income.
The three-member commission yesterday approved the charge sheet in which Sheikh Mohammad Ali alias SK Mohammad Ali is accused.
ACC Deputy Director Jalal Uddin Ahmed investigated the case for about nine months after it was filed on November 13, 2017 and submitted the draft charge sheet recently.
According to the charge sheet, ACC issued a notice to Ali for submitting his wealth statement on July 12, 2016. On August 31, Ali submitted the statement mentioning that the total worth of his moveable and immovable properties is Tk 30.78 crore.
Ali mentioned he has land at Malancha Kumar Para in Sylhet but in the investigation ACC found the accused did not mention a six-storied building on the land.
With the help of the engineering division of Public Works Department, ACC assessed that about Tk 95.11 lakh was spent for construction of the building.
Ali also received allocation of a 10-katha plot at Rajuk Purbachal New Town Project worth Tk 30 lakh but he did not declare that in his wealth statement either.
He also concealed information of other immovable properties worth Tk 4.88 crore.
Thus, he concealed information of his immovable properties worth Tk 6.13 crore, reads the charge sheet.
Ali declared to ACC that he has movable properties worth Tk 25.9 crore.
On December 25, 2014, Customs Intelligence seized gold bars weighing around 61.5kg worth Tk 30.76 crore, Saudi riyals worth over Tk 3.29 crore, and Bangladeshi currency worth Tk 5.59 crore from two flats belonging to Ali in the capital's Purana Paltan. The agency later filed a case with Paltan Police Station in this connection.
Ali, in his statement, did not mention the total value of the gold, Saudi riyals and local currency, which is Tk 39.66 crore.
ACC found Ali's total wealth -- moveable and immovable -- to be worth Tk 71.7 crore and of that the wealth that he amassed beyond his known source of income is worth Tk 40.91 crore. During the raid, Ali, however, claimed the gold belonged to one of his friends and his wife told media that she received some Tk 2 crore by selling a piece of land.