Graft Case: Passport official, wife sent to jail

A Dhaka court yesterday sent Md Motaleb Hossain, a deputy assistant director of Directorate of Immigration and Passports, and his wife Israt Jahan to jail after rejecting their bail petitions in two graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the orders after the couple surrendered before it seeking bail.

During the hearing, Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder told the court that his clients were implicated as part of a conspiracy to harass them. He prayed for granting their bail.

Special Public Prosecutor Ruhul Amin opposed the bail petitions, saying that Motaleb is an employee with a small salary while Israt is a housewife. But they earned huge amounts of money through illegal means. Their bail petitions should be rejected.

Upon hearing both sides, the judge turned down the defence pleas and sent the couple to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.

ACC Deputy Director Abu Bakar Siddique filed the cases with its Integrated District Office, Dhaka-1 on June 30.

According to the prosecution, it was alleged that Motaleb acquired wealth of Tk 41,23,389 illegally and concealed wealth statement of Tk 10,79,378 to ACC from 2004 to 2020.

Motaleb also bought 494 decimals of properties at his village home of Mirzaganj in Patuakhali district under his name even though he withdraws Tk 28,000 as salary per month.

According to the prosecution, it was alleged that Israt acquired wealth of Tk 3.08 crore through illegal means and concealed wealth statement of Tk 99.98 lakh to ACC from 2009 to 2020.