Ex-DSCC mayor Khokon sued for embezzlement

Dhaka South City Corporation former mayor Sayeed Khokon and six others have been sued on charges of embezzlement of Tk 34.89 crore.

Delwar Hossain, president of Traders-Owners Association of Fulbaria City Supermarket-2 in the capital's Gulistan, filed the case with the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Ashek Imam yesterday, Atiqur Rahman, bench assistant of the court, told The Daily Star.

The six other accused are: Yusuf Ali Sardar, former chief revenue officer of the city corporation, Md Mazed, former deputy assistant engineer of the city corporation, and their assistants Kamrul Hasan, Helena Akter, Atiqur Rahman Swapan and Md Walid.

The magistrate took the case into cognisance and recorded the statement of the complainant yesterday. The court will pass an order over the issue today, said bench assistant Atiqur.

According to the case document, Khokon and six others conspired with one another and built shops, violating the main design of Fulbaria City Supermarket-2. The accused then announced allotment of the shops.

When the traders approached the DSCC, former mayor Khokon contacted the other accused and asked them to allot the shops, the case statement said.

The traders then communicated with accused Kamrul, Helena, Swapan and Walid for getting the allotment of shops.

In the case statement, the complainant mentioned that the accused took around Tk 34.89 crore from the complainant and 26 other traders in the name of "allocating shops at the market's "blocks -- A, B & C" between June 21, 2015, and September 29 last year. But now, the shops are being demolished for violating the original design of the market.

The plaintiff also appealed to the court to issue arrest warrants against the accused.

On December 8, the DSCC knocked down several hundred illegal shops at the Fulbaria Supermarket-2, which were built violating the main design of the supermarket.

Traders and shop owners protested the DSCC move that day.

DSCC officials initially faced obstruction from shopkeepers when they went to demolish the illegal parts of the supermarket. Shopkeepers threw brick chunks from inside the market at the DSCC team. Police fired teargas canisters to bring the situation under control.

On the same day, DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh after a programme at the Nagar Bhaban said many shops were constructed violating the main design of the DSCC supermarket.

People on different occasions built the shops in the open and parking spaces, he added.

Some 911 shops were erected illegally in the open and parking spaces of the market's A, B, and C blocks (City Plaza, Nagar Plaza and Zaker Plaza) over the years, say DSCC officials.