‘I cannot avoid responsibility’
Former Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) Chairman Ali Akbar Khan yesterday claimed that he was unaware of the forgery of thousands of certificates, which his wife stands accused of.
However, he said he cannot avoid responsibility for the crime.
"As I am [was] the chief of the board, I cannot shrug off the responsibility," he said after coming out of DB office, where investigators quizzed him for several hours.
"I was definitely asked about it [his wife's alleged involvement in the crime] but I said I did not know anything," he said.
The forgery came to light after detectives arrested AKM Shamsuzzaman, a system analyst of the board, along with many fake certificates on April 1. Later, on April 20, the DB officials arrested Ali Akbar's wife Sehela Parveeen for her involvement with the racket.
DB says there are proofs of financial transactions between Sehela and Shamsuzzaman.
Shamsuzzaman sold over 5,000 forged certificates over the last couple of years, amassing crores -- that he shared with the officials of the board, Anti-Corruption Commission and journalists.
The Daily Star published a report on the issue titled 'Genuine' SSC, HSC certificates for sale!" on April 2.
At the DB office yesterday, a journalist asked the former chairman about what steps he had taken against Shamsuzzaman after journalists in the past reported on the crime.
In response, Ali claimed he tried to find the forged certificates on the database, but did not find any.
Asked about the allegation of taking Tk 20 lakh bribe from Shamsuzzaman, he claimed it as baseless.
After interrogation, Harun-Or-Rashid, chief of the detective branch of police, said the investigators gave the ex-chairman two days for proper explanation.
If he cannot do it within the stipulated time and investigators find evidence of his involvement with certificate forgery, legal action will be taken against him, he added.
Harun said they have so far arrested six persons, including Shamsuzzamn and Sehela. Five of them, including the two, gave confessional statements before the magistrate.
Ali was made OSD (officer on special duty) on Sunday after detectives arrested his wife.
"Today [yesterday], we interrogated him and the exam controller of the board at DB office," Harun said.
"Footage of the blank certificate papers being taken from the institution was captured on CCTV. So, why was action not taken?" Harun asked. "Besides, the examination controller also signed the [fake] certificates for months," he said.
"We have questioned whether the chairman and the exam controller have done these things negligently or willingly… The chairman told DB that they had less manpower. So, it was not possible to monitor the situation."
"I think the chairman cannot avoid responsibility. We will now see if he really knew about the certificate sales. He's supposed to know," Harun said.
Comments