Court orders to freeze 8 bank accounts of Sayeed Khokon, family members

A Dhaka court has ordered to freeze eight bank accounts of former mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Sayeed Khokon and three of his family members -- wife Farhana Alam, sister Shahana Hanif and mother Fatema Hanif -- as a part of investigation into allegation of "amassing illegal wealth".

Of them, three accounts belong to Khokon's business firms, two accounts belong to his wife, two accounts belong to his sister, and one belongs to his mother, an official of ACC confirmed to The Daily Star.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka yesterday passed the order after Jalal Uddin Ahmed, a deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission who is also head of the enquiry team, submitted an application seeking permission for freezing their bank accounts in this regard.

In the application, the investigating officer said that a large amount of money had been transacted in those bank accounts.

For a fair investigation into the allegations, the accounts need to be blocked on an urgent basis to ensure that no money is withdrawn, handed over or transferred from those accounts, the IO also said.

During the investigation, it was learnt that the accused are trying to transfer money from those accounts, the application stated.

On December 29 last year, Sayeed Khokon and six others were sued on charges of embezzlement of around Tk 35 crore.

Md Delwar Hossain, president of businessmen, owners' association of Fulbaria City Supermarket-2 in Gulistan, filed the case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

The case is now under investigation.