Bangladesh asks Kuwait why its MP arrested
Bangladesh has written to Kuwait seeking to know why lawmaker Mohammad Shahid Islam, also known as Kazi Papul, has been arrested.
"We have written to Kuwait's foreign ministry to learn the details of why Shahid Islam MP has been arrested," Bangladesh ambassador to Kuwait, SM Abul Kalam, told The Daily Star yesterday.
A source in Kuwait said the Gulf country's Criminal Investigation Department handed the independent MP from Luxmipur-2 to the general prosecution, which sent the arrestee to jail.
Asked if the government would take any step for Shahid's bail and provide him with legal support, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said any Bangladeshi arrested abroad would get consular services from the Bangladesh government.
"Getting consular services is their right," the minister told this correspondent.
According to a report run by the Gulf News yesterday, Kuwaiti public prosecution ordered remanding Shahid, pending investigation, after being referred by the residence investigation department, which arrested him in Musharraf area on Saturday.
The prosecution charged him with human trafficking, money laundering, and exploiting his compatriot workers after hearing testimonies of five Bangladeshis, who confirmed that they had paid amounts of up to 3,000 dinars in exchange for coming to Kuwait, and that they were also paying annual sums for renewing their residency visas.
Among the complaints submitted against the Bangladeshi MP is that he is believed to have provided five luxury cars as bribes to government officials in Kuwait, so that he could obtain contracts for the company he runs there.
In response to a complaint filed on February 16, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission opened an enquiry into the allegation that Shahid amassed Tk 1,400 crore by trafficking people to Kuwait and siphoned off the amount abroad.
Earlier in February, the Kuwaiti media reported that three Bangladeshis were operating a human trafficking racket in the Middle Eastern country. On February 12, a report of the Arab Times, an English language daily, said one of the three was a "member of parliament in Bangladesh".
The report said the trio "occupied sensitive positions" in three major companies that brought more than 20,000 Bangladeshi workers to Kuwait in exchange for an amount believed to be more than Tk 1,391 crore.
Asked, Shahid told The Daily Star at that time that he had been in construction business for 30 years and that about 26,000 people worked for his Marafie Kuwaitia General Contracting Company. Of them, about 20,000 were from Bangladesh and the rest from different other countries, including India and Nepal.
Denying his involvement in any criminal activity, he had said, "I don't have any businesses in Bangladesh. I have never made any illegal transaction and have always used proper banking channels."
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