MP Enamul 'clean'

The Anti-Corruption Commission has cleared another Awami League lawmaker, Enamul Haque, of allegations of amassing illegal wealth and concealing information about it.

Enamul is the third ruling party lawmaker to have been given clean chit by the ACC in the last five months.

ACC Chairman Mohammad Badiuzzaman yesterday claimed that the AL lawmaker neither amassed wealth illegally nor concealed wealth information.

The facts, however, don't support the ACC boss' claim.

Probing the allegations, ACC official Jatin Kumar Roy found that Enamul concealed information about his wealth of Tk 215 crore and amassed Tk 2.88 crore without known sources of income.

However, ACC Commissioner (Investigation) Nasiruddin Ahmed, who re-examined the enquiry report, found that the AL lawmaker concealed information about only Tk 2 crore, not Tk 215 crore, in his wealth statement.

Both the ACC officials recommended filing a case against Enamul.

But the ACC chief rejected the enquiry report submitted in September on grounds that it had no merit.

"The enquiry officer merged his [Enamul] personal assets with that of business entities jointly owned by Enamul and others. But the commission differed with the enquiry officer. We dropped the matter and sent it to the NBR [National Board of Revenue]" Badiuzzaman told The Daily Star yesterday.

Asked about Enamul's concealing information about Tk 2 crore, the ACC chief avoided giving a direct answer. He, however, said if the NBR sends the matter back to the ACC, they would reinvestigate it.

In August, the ACC gave clean chit to AL lawmaker Aslamul Haque, and ex-health minister and MP Ruhal Haque by accepting their claims that they made mistakes in their wealth statements submitted to the Election Commission before the January 5 national elections.

The controversial move by the ACC drew widespread criticism.

While probing the allegations against Enamul, the ACC found that he concealed information about Ena Enterprise where he and his wife have shares worth over Tk 200 crore.

"Ena Enterprise is a separate entity bearing a separate TIN (Tax Identification Number). So, I did not mention it in my wealth statement" Enamul had told The Daily Star earlier.

In response to an ACC notice, the ruling party MP submitted his wealth statement to the ACC in May, stating that he had movable and immovable properties worth around Tk 12 crore.

The commission cleared Enamul of the allegations on Thursday, said the ACC chief.

"The enquiry officer found that Enamul Haque hid information about more than Tk 200 crore, but Commissioner Nasiruddin Ahmed re-examined it and found the amount to be only Tk 2 crore," said Badiuzzaman.

"Consequently, the commission decided not to sue Enamul. It sent the matter to the NBR to examine whether he [Enamul] had dodged income tax and other government dues" he said.

The ACC moved to probe a number of former and current lawmakers following news reports early this year.

The reports revealed huge discrepancies in wealth statements of seven lawmakers -- three of them ex-ministers -- submitted to the EC before the national elections in 2013 and 2008.

In August, the commission sued ex-state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan, ex-state minister for water resources Mahbubur Rahman and AL lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi over the same allegation.