ACC files graft case against Khoka, family

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a case against Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, his wife, son and daughter for amassing wealth illegally and concealing wealth information.
Assistant Director Shamsul Alam, also investigation officer (IO), filed the case with Ramna police accusing Khoka and his wife Ismat Ara, daughter Sarika Sadeque and son Ishrak Hossain for accumulating wealth worth over Tk 17.57 crore, which does not match his actual income.
The IO accused Khoka, also president of city unit BNP, of concealing wealth worth about Tk 10 crore in his wealth statement he submitted to ACC in December last year.
Khoka's wife, son and daughter were accused of assisting him for committing the offences.
This was the first ACC case against the Dhaka mayor, who is discharging his duties even after his five-year tenure expired, as the subsequent election has yet to be announced.
The case has been filed under sections 26 (2) and 27 (1) of the ACC Act, 2004, section 109 of the Penal Code and section 15 of the Emergency Power Rules, 2007.
The investigation officer further said Khoka submitted his income tax return first in 1990-91 where he shown his income as Tk 30,000. Now he has wealth worth over Tk 17.5 crore, which is beyond his known source of income.
The mayor submitted his wealth statement to ACC on December 6 declaring that he owns movable and immovable property worth about Tk 9 crore.
The statement shows immovable property worth about Tk 8 crore and movable property worth about Tk 1.22 crore in the names of Khoka, his wife, and their children.
Shamsul told The Daily Star Khoka's ill-gotten wealth includes a piece of 87-katha of land in Bashundhara, Dhaka, a picnic spot at Mawana, Gazipur, houses and flats in Gulshan and Gopibagh, Dhaka, and two shops at Bashundhara City Shopping Mall.
Khoka topped the list of 11 high-profile graft suspects who were served with ACC notices on October 18 for submitting wealth statements in a week. The 11 are among 35 graft suspects on the ACC's fourth list published on October 4.
DECLARED WEALTH
According to Khoka's wealth statement, his immovable property includes five houses, six flats and eight plots in and outside the capital, and 2,838 decimals (28.38 acre) of land.
Their movable property includes two cars -- a Lexus and a Toyota -- worth about Tk 53.26 lakh, and bank balance in DPS and Protirakkha Sanchay Patra.
Khoka also showed 40 bank accounts in the names of himself, his wife and daughter, while there are fixed deposit (FDR) and savings scheme worth Tk 25 lakh and Tk 15 lakh in his son's name. The mayor said he also owns two firearms.
Of Khoka's houses, two are in Gopibagh, one three-storey building on RK Mission Road and a six-storey building in Gulshan in the city, and one in Munshiganj.
Of the six flats in the capital, two each were shown in the name of his wife, daughter and son, while eight plots in the capital were shown his wife's name.
The wealth statement showed 32 decimals of land in Munshiganj and 1,142 decimals in Gazipur in Khoka's name and 1,674 decimals in Gazipur in his wife's name.
Khoka also mentioned that he has 27 bank accounts, including joint accounts, with different banks, his wife has 11 accounts and his daughter has two.
He also said he and his wife own shares worth Tk 25 lakh, have business investment worth Tk 1.57 lakh and gold ornaments worth Tk 2.5 lakh, while there is a shop at Bashundhara City at Panthapath in his son's name.
HIS INCOME SOURCES
Khoka's sources of income mentioned in the wealth statement include salaries he received as a minister, lawmaker and DCC mayor during 1991-2007 and money from selling one of his cars.
Other income sources include honorarium he received as a member of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for two terms -- from 1975 to 1990 and from 1996 to 2001, commission he received as a businessman, business profits and house rent.
His businesses mentioned in the wealth statement include importing salt through Brothers United since 1975, installation of deep tube-well under a project of Bangladesh Krishi Unnayan Corporation, and businesses with different organisations including T&T and ICDDR,B.