ACC yet to take legal action against Benazir, Matiur
Solamain Salman 02 September, 2024, 00:12
Benazir Ahmed and Matiur Rahman
The Anti-Corruption Commission has yet to take legal action against former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed and former National Board of Revenue official Matiur Rahman over amassing illegal wealth.
Although, the commission, during its recent inquiry, found a vast amount of movable and immovable assets owned by Benazir, Matiur and their family members, as of Sunday it has not filed any case in this regard.
Amid massive allegations of corruption, the anti-corruption agency on April 18 decided to run an inquiry into the assets of Benazir and his family members, but Benazir left the country 15 days after the probe had been launched.
Before his departure, the former police chief withdrew an enormous amount of money from his bank accounts, and now he, along with his family, is enjoying a luxurious life abroad thanks to the poor surveillance of the anti-corruption commission.
Nearly four and a half months have elapsed since the beginning of the inquiry, but the commission has yet to file a case against him despite available information of corruption against him.
On July 2, the commission issued a notice asking Benazir and family members to submit their wealth statements to the commission within 21 working days, which the former police chief and his family grossly ignored.
The inquiry against Benazir and his family completed quite a while ago, and an inquiry report was also submitted to the commission, but the commission continued to delay its decision over filing a case, said an officer involved in the probe.
On June 4, the commission decided to launch an inquiry into the corruption allegations against former National Board of Revenue member Matiur Rahman and his family members, but that inquiry has not finished, nor has a case been filed.
As per the commission rules, an officer gets a maximum of 75 days to complete an inquiry, but the probe against Matiur and his family is yet to be completed although three months have elapsed after the launch of the inquiry and all necessary information has been gathered by now, according to commission officials.
Earlier, during its inquiry the anti-corruption agency applied to a court for imposing a travel ban on Matiur, saying that facing corruption allegations his second wife and their son left the country and Matiur himself was trying to flee.
On July 2, the same day it asked Benazir for wealth statement, the agency also issued a notice to Matiur and his family members asking them to submit wealth statements within 21 working days. Like Benazir, Matiur and his family also completely disregarded the notice and have not submitted their wealth statements till now.
As the commission has not filed a case against or arrested Matiur despite having information that he owned massive wealth beyond known sources of income, the former revenue board official continues to go scot free.
Commission secretary Khorsheda Yasmeen confirmed that the agency issued notices asking Benazir and Matiur and their family members to submit wealth statements within 21 working days.
She said that the preliminary probe found information that they had acquired assets beyond known sources of income.
The commission would take legal action against them soon as per law, she added.
An Anti-Corruption Commission inquiry team submitted its report to the authority on July 1, mentioning that they found Benazir to amass illegal wealth of around Tk 44 crore.
The inquiry report stated that Benazir amassed illegal wealth worth around Tk 9.25 crore, and his wife Jissan Mirza owned Tk 21.34 crore. Their elder daughter Farheen Rishta amassed illegal wealth worth Tk 8.10 crore, and another daughter Tahseen Raisa owned wealth worth Tk 4.76 crore.
The inquiry report said that the value shown in the deed of immovable property was taken into consideration in the report.
The inquiry also found that 25 acres of land at Bandarban Sadar was taken on lease in Benazir Ahmed’s name, two plots in the names of Benazir and his wife Jissan Mirza in Munshiganj, Jissan Mirza also owned a seven-storey building at the capital’s Uttara, and six flats in Dhaka’s Adabar area.
The value of these assets was not mentioned anywhere, and the value of these assets has not been determined in the inquiry, said the report.
Following a petition by the commission, a Dhaka court ordered the seizure of a total of 697 bigha of land in Gopalganj, Madaripur, Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban, and Narayanganj districts, 12 flats in Dhaka, and shares in 21 companies—all owned by Benazir and his family.
The court also ordered freezing of a Tk 30 lakh investment in savings certificates, 33 bank accounts, and three Beneficiary Owner’s accounts.
The anti-corruption agency, meanwhile, found massive movable and immovable wealth owned by Matiur and his family members.
Following its petitions, a Dhaka court seized 3,523 decimal land, and shares of 19 companies, and also ordered to freeze Tk 13.44 crore in 116 bank accounts and 23 beneficiary owner’s (BO) accounts.
The court also ordered the seizure of eight apartments in Dhaka, a multi-storey building in the Bashundhara residential area, owned by Matiur and his family.
Matiur was president of the revenue board’s Customs, Excise, and VAT Appellate Tribunal before his removal from the position by the finance ministry on June 23, following the goat scandal involving his son that brought his assets under public scrutiny.
The former revenue board official is now facing an anti-corruption inquiry for the fifth time in the past two decades.
In 2004, the commission launched the first inquiry against Matiur, which was followed by three more enquiries in 2008, 2013, and 2021 without any breakthrough.
Matiur was exposed to public scrutiny after video footage went viral on social media showing his second wife’s son, Mushfiqur Rahman Ifat, buying a goat for Tk 12 lakh ahead of Eid-ul-Azha in June.
He initially denied Ifat as his son which was subsequently proved a lie. Speaking to a television channel, Matiur denied any wrongdoing, saying that the anti-corruption commission gave him clean chits four times in the past.
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