Whips gobbled up MP club fund
Delwar, Shahid, Wahidul, Zainul drew Tk 26 lakh for 'treatment'; Tk 43 lakh donated to others
Former chief whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain and his successor Abdus Shahid, former whip Syed Wahidul Alam and incumbent Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque took Tk 26 lakh from the Parliament Members' Club fund during the last parliament for treatment.
A parliamentary sub-committee investigating last seven years' alleged corruption in Parliament Secretariat yesterday disclosed that Tk 64 lakh of Tk 69 lakh earned by the club was donated to former lawmakers and officials of Parliament Secretariat.
According to the disclosure, Delwar, who was chief of the club at that time, took Tk 18 lakh, former secretary of the club Wahidul took Tk 4 lakh, Shahid, who was the opposition chief whip in last parliament, took Tk 1 lakh and Farroque took Tk 3 lakh.
The rest of the amount was donated to a number of the then lawmakers and Parliament Secretariat officials, the sub-committee members said.
Asked if they took the money legally or illegally, ruling Awami League lawmaker and sub-committee chief Shajahan Khan said they just revealed the information. "We are not examining the legal grounds," he told reporters after a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
Talking to reporters, Jatiya Party lawmaker and member of the sub-committee Mujibul Haque Chunnu said, "They are all patients of heart diseases."
Interestingly, Delwar's predecessor Abul Hasnat Abdullah, who was the chief whip of the seventh parliament, did not take a single paisa from the members' club when he was its chief, Shajahan said.
He added that the executive committee of the club decided to donate the money to lawmakers.
The Daily Star obtained a list of the recipients of the donations from Parliament Members' Club.
As per the list former whips Ashraf Hossain took Tk 2 lakh, Rezaul Bari Deena Tk 1 lakh, and Fazlul Haque Aspia Tk 1 lakh, former lawmakers Alamgir Hayder Khan of Chandpur-6 took Tk 1 lakh, Sirajul Islam of Chittagong-10 Tk 80,000, Sirajul Haque of Comilla-4 Tk 50,000, Amena Bari Tk 25,000, Abdul Jalil of Rangpur-6 Tk 25,000, Engineer Shamsuddin Ahmed of Mymensingh-6 Tk 50,000, Mafizur Rahman Rokon Tk 1 lakh, Rebeka Mahmud of women's seat-3 Tk 50,000, Majibur Rahman of Nilphamari Tk 25,000, Rustam Ali Farazi of Pirojpur-3 Tk 25,000, Shahid Ahmed Khandaker of Dohar Tk 50,000, Shahidul Alam Talukder of Patuakhali-2 Tk 25,000, Amjad Hossain Sarkar of Nilphamari-4 Tk 25,000, Kabir Hossain of Rajshahi-4 Tk 2 lakh, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jewel Tk 50,000, Shamsuddin Ahmed Ishak of Narsingdi-1 Tk 1 lakh, Abdur Razzak Khan of Patuakhali-4 Tk 50,000, late Abdus Samad Azad of Sunamganj-3 Tk 1 lakh, Tajul Islam Chowdhury of Kurigram-2 Tk 1 lakh, Mufti Maulana Abdus Sattar of Bagerhat-4 Tk 1.5 lakh, Rawshan Ara Hena Tk 1 lakh, Alamgir Mohammad Mahfuzzullah Farid of Cox's Bazar-2 Tk 75,000, Kofil Sonar of Naogaon-4 Tk 50,000, late Syed Manjur Hossain of Chapainawabganj-2 Tk 2 lakh, Abdul Gani of Meherpur Tk 1 lakh, Shahiduzzaman Beltu of Jhenidah-4 Tk 1 lakh, Mashiur Rahman of Jhenidah Tk 1 lakh and Kazi Mojammel Haque Tk 50,000.
AL lawmakers of the ninth parliament, Dabirul Islam and Imajuddin Pramanik, also took Tk 75,000 and Tk 25,000 while Jatiya Party lawmaker Mojibur Rahman of Lalmonirhat-2 took Tk 50,000.
FUEL ALLOWNCE
The sub-committee yesterday started examining the documents related to payments of fuel allowances for vehicles used by the VIPs of the last parliament. Shajahan said former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar was entitled to use four vehicles while his deputy Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui and Delwar were each entitled to use three vehicles. "But the former speaker used additional three vehicles, his deputy four vehicles and Delwar used additional two vehicles," he said, adding that they illegally took Tk 36.63 lakh as additional fuel allowance for the extra vehicles. On taking fuel allowance for a government vehicle used for a political tour by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's son and former senior joint secretary general of the party Tarique Rahman, Shajahan said they have evidence on it. He showed journalists the document carrying Tarique's name. The sub-committee started examining the huge number of documents to see if there are more irregularities.
The sub-committee yesterday started examining the documents related to payments of fuel allowances for vehicles used by the VIPs of the last parliament. Shajahan said former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar was entitled to use four vehicles while his deputy Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui and Delwar were each entitled to use three vehicles. "But the former speaker used additional three vehicles, his deputy four vehicles and Delwar used additional two vehicles," he said, adding that they illegally took Tk 36.63 lakh as additional fuel allowance for the extra vehicles. On taking fuel allowance for a government vehicle used for a political tour by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's son and former senior joint secretary general of the party Tarique Rahman, Shajahan said they have evidence on it. He showed journalists the document carrying Tarique's name. The sub-committee started examining the huge number of documents to see if there are more irregularities.
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