Tax official detained with Tk 10 lakh

A team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) detained an official of Rajshahi income tax office yesterday.

ACC Deputy Director Moniruzzaman said the commission decided to conduct a raid at the office upon receiving information that Deputy Tax Commissioner Mohibul Islam had been demanding Tk 50 lakh in bribes from physician Fatema Siddika, bringing allegations of tax evasion against her.

When the doctor left Mohibul's office after paying Tk 10 lakh in bribe yesterday, a nine-member team of ACC led by its divisional director Kamrul Ahsan entered the office around 11:30am and found the money with him following a scuffle, he mentioned.

Hearing his screams, tax office staffers rushed to the scene, broke open the door and swooped on the ACC officials, Moniruzzaman said.

The ACC team then called police, which later brought the situation under control, he said. ACC officials detained Mohibul  after the incident.

"We started investigating the allegations of bribery against the tax official after the Dhaka office informed us it on March 29. We will send Mohibul to a court after filing a case," said Moniruzzaman.

Contacted, Rajshahi Tax Commissioner Shah Ali said there was an allegation of tax evasion against the doctor. But he could not give any details about yesterday's raid.

"We already informed the matter to the National Board of Revenue," he added.

While the ACC team was taking away Mohibul from the tax office, Mohibul shouted to the journalists present there that he is innocent.

"The physician and ACC members staged a drama. They did not recover the money from my possession. The physician evaded Tk 26 crore in five years," Mohibul said.

Asked, the ACC deputy director said they too noticed bank transactions worth Tk 26 crore by the physician.

"Tax evasion is not our affair to look into, but corruption by government officials is. Instead of acting against tax evasion, the tax official received bribes," said Moniruzzaman.