Ill-Gotten Wealth: Freeze 613 bank accounts of MP Papul, his family

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday requested the Bangladesh Bank to instruct eight commercial banks to freeze 613 bank accounts of independent lawmaker Mohammad Shahid Islam Papul, his wife, daughter, and sister-in-law.

The graft watchdog has also decided to seize 30.27 acres of land in different parts of the country and flats in the capital's Gulshan owned by them, sources said.

Papul, now behind bars in Kuwait, was arrested in the Gulf country in early June. He faces trial on charges of human trafficking and money laundering.

He was accused of taking up to 3,000 Kuwaiti dinars (around Tk 8 lakh) from each migrant workers, mostly Bangladeshis, for sending them to Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department of police yesterday also filed an application with a Dhaka court to freeze bank accounts and seize illegal properties of Papul, his family members and associates.

The move came a day after the CID filed a money laundering case against them.

"While investigating a human trafficking case filed earlier against Papul and his associates, we found evidence of money laundering. We hope the court will soon consider our prayer to freeze illegal properties which were amassed through human trafficking," CID chief Mahbubur Rahman, also an additional inspector general of police, told reporters at his office yesterday.

According to CID findings, Papul and his family members amassed more than Tk 355 crore. Transactions were made from 526 bank accounts and fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) of 13 banks. Over Tk 130 crore is still in these accounts.

CID officials said they have found evidence that at least Tk 38.22 crore was amassed mainly through human trafficking since 2016.

On Tuesday, the CID filed the money laundering case with Paltan Police Station against Papul, his daughter Wafa Islam, brother Kazi Badrul Alam Liton, sister-in-law Jesmin Prodhan, staffers Sadiqur Rahman Monir and Golam Mostafa, and two overseas employment agencies owned by Badrul and Jesmin.

The CID said they were investigating whether Papul's wife Selina Islam, also a lawmaker, was involved in human trafficking.

During the briefing, the CID chief said names of some other people surfaced during the investigation and they would press charges against them if they found evidence in this regard.

"You cannot stop human trafficking if you cannot nab the big fishes in the racket. We are working to stop it," the CID chief said.

The CID official suspected that the accused might have amassed more wealth illegally. He said prime accused Papul could have illegal assets abroad. Information regarding this will be obtained from the financial intelligence units of the respective foreign countries through mutual legal assistance requests.

This is the third case filed against the lawmaker and his family members so far.

On July 7, Kuwait-returnee Abdul Alim from Naogaon filed a human trafficking case against Papul with Motijheel Police Station.

The ACC on November 11 had filed a case against Papul, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law over laundering Tk 148 crore.

The High Court on Tuesday ordered Papul's wife and daughter to surrender before the lower court concerned by December 28 in the money laundering case.