[🇧🇩] The fate of big guns/beneficiaries of Awami League after the student revolution

[Saif]

ACC sues Asaduzzaman, family for amassing illegal wealth

The Anti-Corruption Commission has found illegal assets worth Tk 60.55 crore amassed by former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, his wife, and two...

www.newagebd.net

ACC sues Asaduzzaman, family for amassing illegal wealth
Staff Correspondent 09 October, 2024, 21:00

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal | BSS photo

The Anti-Corruption Commission has found illegal assets worth Tk 60.55 crore amassed by former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, his wife, and two children between July 1, 1997 and August 13 this year.

The commission had also found information of transactions of Tk 416 crore in 36 bank accounts in the name of the former home minister and his family members during the same period, ACC director general (prevention) Akhtar Hossain said on Wednesday.

The ACC on Wednesday filed four cases with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 against Asaduzzaman Khan, his wife Lutful Tahmina Khan, son Shafi Modasser Khan and daughter Shafiya Tasnim Khan on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 60 crore and money laundering, the ACC DG said.

This is the first case since beginning inquiries by the ACC against a number of former Awami League lawmakers, ministers and leaders after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.

Besides, ACC also filed another case against Asaduzzaman’s former assistant personal secretary, Md Monir Hossain, on charge of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 18.82 crore. Apart from this, illegal transactions of Tk 31.31 crore have also been found in 12 banks in the name of Monir Hossain.

Asaduzzaman, now facing several murder cases, has been in hiding since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. The BFIU on August 13 decided to freeze bank accounts in the names of the ex-home minister and his family members.

The former minister’s son Shafi Modasser Khan, who was arrested in an attempt to murder case in the past month, is now in jail.

Of the five cases against the ex-minister, his family members and APS Monir, ACC deputy director Jahangir Alam filed a case against Asaduzzaman on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 16.41 crore.

Deputy director Joynal Abedin filed a case against Lutfa Tahmina Khan on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 15.46 crore.

Assistant director Abul Kalam Azad filed a case against Shafi Modasser Khan on charges of accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk 19.89 crore while its assistant director Zinatul Islam filed a case against Shafiya Tasnim Khan over allegations of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 8.77 crore.

ACC assistant director Nasrullah Hossain filed another case against ex-APS Md Monir Hossain on charges of amassing wealth worth Tk 18.82 crore beyond known sources of income.

Asaduzzaman is the lone accused in the first case, while he is co-accused in the other four cases. He was elected lawmaker for the first time in 2008 from Dhaka-11 constituency, and appointed state minister for home on January 12, 2014.

He held the post of home minister until the fall of the AL regime since his promotion as home minister on July 14, 2015.

On August 18, the ACC decided to initiate inquiries against Asaduzzaman and five other officials of his ministry for their alleged involvement in bribery in appointment.

The five others are Asaduzzaman’s former personal secretary Md Harun-Or-Rashid Biswas, Public Security division deputy secretary Dhananjoy Kumar Das, Security Services Division administrative officer Mollah Ibrahim Hossain, APS Monir, and the ministry’s public relations officer Sharif Mahmud Apu.

Although cases were filed against Asaduzzaman and APS Monir, the inquiries against four others were still under inquiry, ACC officials said.​

 

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Mahmudur Rahman demands warrant for arrest of Sheikh Hasina

Acting editor of Amar Desh newspaper, Mahmudur Rahman, has demanded an warrant for the arrest of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. “Sheikh Hasina took away the people's freedom of speech and is directly implicated in the recent massacres,” he said during a meeting with journalists a

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Mahmudur Rahman demands warrant for arrest of Sheikh Hasina
Published :
Oct 10, 2024 21:25
Updated :
Oct 10, 2024 22:17

Acting editor of Amar Desh newspaper, Mahmudur Rahman, has demanded an warrant for the arrest of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Sheikh Hasina took away the people's freedom of speech and is directly implicated in the recent massacres,” he said during a meeting with journalists at the Kushtia Press Club on Thursday. He called for bringing her back to the country to face trial.

Mahmudur emphasised, “Although fascism has been defeated, Indian dominance persists. We must rally around a Bengali Muslim identity. Sheikh Hasina's political downfall will come from our own culture, leading to the end of Indian hegemony.”

Earlier in the day, he filed a case against 66 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina and ex-IGP Mohammad Javed Patwary, for an attack on him at a court premises in Kushtia about six years ago, according to a UNB report.

In response to a question, Mahmudur said, “Now that the rights of Bangladeshis, freedom of speech, and the dignity of the court have been restored, I could file this case.” He also demanded exemplary punishment for those involved in the incident.

A total of 46 people including leaders and activists of Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo League and Swechhasebak League were named in the case along with 15 to 20 unnamed.

According to the case statement, Mahmudur Rahman came under attack by the accused when he was coming out of the Kushtia court after securing bail in a defamation case on July 22, 2018. Later, he returned to Dhaka by an ambulance.

In 2018, then Kushtia Chhatra League president Yeasir Arafat Tushar filed a case against Mahmudur Rahman, bringing allegation of making derogatory remarks about Tulip Siddiq, granddaughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and niece of Sheikh Hasina.

Mahmudur Rahman also went to the home of BUET student Abrar Fahad, who was brutally murdered by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists inside the Sher-e-Bangla Hall of the university.​

 

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Beneficiaries of Hasina govt's kleptocracy won't escape, will they?

Every day now the news media carries stories or some politician or former bureaucrat being arrested. According to Prothom Alo, in the first week of October (1-7 October) this year, a total of 7,018 persons were arrested from all around the country. While it hasn't been possible to get the...

en.prothomalo.com

Beneficiaries of Hasina govt's kleptocracy won't escape, will they?
Kamal Ahmed
Updated: 10 Oct 2024, 21: 17

Every day now the news media carries stories or some politician or former bureaucrat being arrested. According to Prothom Alo, in the first week of October (1-7 October) this year, a total of 7,018 persons were arrested from all around the country.

While it hasn't been possible to get the accurate number of arrests made in the two months since the autocrat Sheikh Hasina fled from the country, it is clear from certain deliberations that the arrests had been very limited before October. The main reason behind this was that the police system has broken down. Time was also required to repair the damaged police stations or to find alternatives.

There haven't been any detailed records available either of how many among the arrested are politicians, how many are civil servants, how many have been arrested for financial crimes and so on. At least no such details caught the eye in the news media till now.

It is also not clear as to whether the initiative to identify members of the law enforcement agencies who face serious criminal charges, has been completed or not. Towards the outset a few senior level police officials were arrested as well as a couple of senior army officers. But no one can say for sure if the other offenders within these forces will get away. According to official records, the number of police officers who have not returned to duty or who are in hiding, total nearly 200.

There were all sorts of offences and of varying degrees committed during the autocratic regime. The crimes committed from 15 July to 5 August are basically all acts of gruesome and brutal violence.

The indiscriminate killings, mass arrests and repression unleashed to bring the movement under control, stood out as different from the past 15 years of misrule. Many have termed these incidents as massacres and crimes against humanity, and these should be brought to trial accordingly.
The repression and torture carried out over the past 15 years may have been slightly different in nature, but much of the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings can be considered as crimes against humanity.

The other crimes of violating human rights, repression and suppression must also be brought to justice. All victims have the right to justice.
It is only natural that politicians will bear liability for political decisions. It is vital that they be placed on trial and be held accountable for exerting unlawful pressure to cling onto political power by resorting to killings, assault and torture.

At the same time, it is also vital that those who assisted them in their misdeeds, who carried out their unlawful orders and carried out cruel and inhuman crimes, must also be held accountable. Those guilty of such offences are basically over-enthusiastic and partisan bureaucrats and members of the law enforcement.

The manner in which a few businessmen, aided and abetted by the government, managed to establish sole control over the country's economy, is a textbook case of kleptocracy in Bangladesh
The investigations into their crimes and the judicial process are unfortunately very slow and disappointing. Most of the officials who would display their power and who were notorious for their cruelty have vanished overnight. Some have even fled from the country, it is heard.

Much criticised at home and abroad for its ruthlessness over the past 15 years, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which is also under US sanctions, now claims, "We were with the student-people's movement, we were with the uprising, and are doing all that is required to ensure its success." The RAB spokesperson claims they did not use any lethal weapons against the students and the people, and also that none of their members have absconded.

Once the UN's investigative teams report is available, the veracity of RAB's claims can be determined. But a helicopter bearing the name of RAB had been used for suppressing the agitation in an unprecedented manner, as is evident from videos on social media. The chief of army staff assured that investigations will be carried out and accountability ensured of the members of the armed forces who face allegations. We hope the outcome of these measures is made public.

The style of crime carried out by the group that assisted the autocratic rule the most and which benefitted the most too, was absolutely different. They are the financial felons. Some of these financial criminals have been nabbed because of their political identity. But the number arrested among those who have embezzled the country's resources and laundered the wealth overseas, is negligible.

Details of these financial crimes have been released by the government and the scope and extent of such crimes is beyond imagination. The manner in which a few businessmen, aided and abetted by the government, managed to establish sole control over the country's economy, is a textbook case of kleptocracy in Bangladesh.

Nowhere else in the world is there precedence of how a certain business family violated all rules and regulations and blatantly misused state power by using the defence forces' intelligence agency to take over one bank after the other, resorting to fraudulence to take loans of over Tk 900 billion (Tk 90,000 crore) from the clients' deposits in these banks.

Excelling in embezzlement, S Alam Group has a long list of financial crimes including tax evasion and money laundering. The proprietor of the group is not alone in these crimes. His family members are involved too as well as his paid employees. But there is nothing in the media as to whether they are in the country or, by virtue of their foreign citizenship, they have gone abroad.

In the meantime, in order to tackle the serious office of tax evasion, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has ordered a moratorium on share transfers (buying, selling or gifting) of S Alam Group, Basundhara Group, Summit Group, Beximco Group, Orion Group, Nasa Group and Third Wave Technologies Limited (Nagad Limited). Bangladesh Bank has frozen the bank accounts of many of the directors of these groups as well as that of their family members. But it is quite possible that they had emptied out their bank accounts in the few weeks before these were frozen.

A bar on leaving the country has been imposed on many of these beneficiaries of financial crimes. But we are unable to understand the use of imposing a travel ban on a businessman-politician who owns hundreds of homes overseas and who safely left the country after the change in power, three weeks after he thumbed his nose at these restrictions on Al Jazeera television.

And the bureaucrats and bankers who ignored the law to aid and abet these financial crimes, remain out of reach. Just as in the banking sector, there was unrestricted larceny in the share market too. There too, the officials who were in regulatory roles were accessories in crime. They too seem to be out of reach.

Just as the students and people want accountability for the corruption of the political leaders and activists, they also want the beneficiaries of kleptocracy to face justice. But perhaps it is only natural for there to be apprehensions that due attention is not being paid to the investigations and judicial process pertaining to these looters.

* Kamal Ahmed is a senior journalist​

 

[Saif]

ফ্যাসিস্টের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত গণহত্যা সমর্থনকারী সাংবাদিকদের বিচার হবে: নাহিদ ইসলাম

সাংবাদিকদের মধ্যে যারা সরাসরি ফ্যাসিস্ট সরকারের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত ছিল, উস্কানিদাতা ছিল এবং গণহত্যার সমর্থন করেছে তাদের বিচারের আওতায় আনা হবে বলে নাহিদ ইসলাম জানিয়েছেন।

bangla.thedailystar.net

ফ্যাসিস্টের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত গণহত্যা সমর্থনকারী সাংবাদিকদের বিচার হবে: নাহিদ ইসলাম
সাংবাদিকদের মধ্যে যারা সরাসরি ফ্যাসিস্ট সরকারের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত ছিল, উস্কানিদাতা ছিল এবং গণহত্যার সমর্থন করেছে তাদের বিচারের আওতায় আনা হবে বলে নাহিদ ইসলাম জানিয়েছেন।

তথ্য ও সম্প্রচার উপদেষ্টা মো. নাহিদ ইসলাম। ছবি: টেলিভিশন থেকে নেওয়া

সাংবাদিকদের মধ্যে যারা সরাসরি ফ্যাসিস্ট সরকারের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত ছিল, উস্কানিদাতা ছিল এবং গণহত্যার সমর্থন করেছে তাদের বিচারের আওতায় আনা হবে বলে নাহিদ ইসলাম জানিয়েছেন।

ঢাকা মেডিকেল কলেজ হাসপাতালে চিকিৎসাধীন আন্দোলনে আহতদের অনুদানের চেক হস্তান্তরের পর সাংবাদিকদের প্রশ্নের জবাবে তিনি এ কথা জানান।

এ সময় নাহিদ ইসলাম বলেন, 'শহীদ স্মৃতি ফাউন্ডেশন থেকে আন্দোলনে আহত-নিহতদের আর্থিক অনুদান দেওয়া হচ্ছে।'

আহতদের বিদেশে চিকিৎসার বিষয়ে জানতে চাইলে তিনি বলেন, 'সংশ্লিষ্ট ডাক্তারদের পরামর্শ অনুযায়ী প্রয়োজনীয় ব্যবস্থা নেওয়া হবে।'

সাংবাদিকদের বিরুদ্ধে মামলার প্রসঙ্গে জানতে চাইলে নাহিদ বলেন, 'যারা সরাসরি ফ্যাসিস্ট সরকারের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত ছিল, উস্কানিদাতা ছিল এবং গণহত্যার সমর্থন করেছে তাদের বিচারের আওতায় আনা হবে। এর বাইরে অন্যায়ভাবে কারও বিরুদ্ধে কোনো মামলা করা হলে, তা খতিয়ে দেখতে তথ্য মন্ত্রণালয়ে কমিটি গঠন করে দেওয়া হয়েছে।'

'যদি কোনো সাংবাদিক বা তার পরিবার মনে করে যে মামলার মাধ্যমে ভোগান্তির শিকার হচ্ছে, তাহলে আমাদের সঙ্গে যোগাযোগ করলে আমরা তাদের সহযোগিতা করব,' বলেন তিনি।

আহত-নিহতদের মামলা প্রসঙ্গে তিনি বলেন, 'এ বিষয়ে একটি লিগ্যাল টিম কাজ করছে। আমরা স্পেশাল ট্রাইব্যুনালে এই বিচার প্রক্রিয়া সম্পন্ন করব। গণঅভ্যুত্থানে যারা শহিদ হয়েছেন, আহত হয়েছেন, তারা দেশের বীর সন্তান। আন্দোলনে বিভিন্ন দলের যেসব নেতাকর্মী জীবন দিয়েছেন, তাদের সেই আত্মত্যাগকে আমরা স্বীকৃতি দেই।'

'আমরা অনুরোধ করব শহিদ ও আহতদের যেন আমরা কোনো দল বা ব্যানার দিয়ে ভাগ করে না ফেলি। আমরা যেন তাদের নিজেদের রাজনৈতিক স্বার্থে ব্যবহার না করি,' যোগ করেন তিনি।

নাহিদ ইসলাম বলেন, 'ঢাকা মেডিকেলে আসার আগে অনেকে বিভিন্ন জায়গায় চিকিৎসা নিয়েছেন, তাদের সেই খরচ আমরা দিয়ে দেবো।'

আন্দোলনকারীদের বিরুদ্ধে বিভিন্ন জায়গায় মামলা হচ্ছে সাংবাদিকদের এমন প্রশ্নের জবাবে যুব ও ক্রীড়া মন্ত্রণালয়ের উপদেষ্টা আসিফ মাহমুদ সজীব ভূঁইয়া বলেন, 'দ্রুতই স্বরাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয় থেকে এ বিষয়ে নির্দেশনা জারি করা হবে যেন আন্দোলনকারীদের বিরুদ্ধে কোথাও কোনো ব্যবস্থা না নেওয়া হয়। আন্দোলনকারীদের হত্যার সঙ্গে জড়িত পুলিশ সদস্যরা যত‌ই ক্ষমতাধর হোক না কেন তাদের ছাড় দেওয়া হবে না।'

এ পর্যন্ত জুলাই ফাউন্ডেশন থেকে আহতদের অনুদানের টাকার হিসাব সাংবাদিকদের সামনে তুলে ধরেন ফাউন্ডেশনের সেক্রেটারি মীর মাহবুবুর রহমান স্নিগ্ধ।

তিনি জানান, আজ মোট ১২২ জনকে জনপ্রতি এক লাখ টাকা করে এক কোটি ২২ লাখ ৬৪ হাজার ৪০০ টাকা দেওয়া হয়েছে। এর মধ্যে ঢাকা মেডিকেল কলেজে চিকিৎসাধীন ৩০ জনের মধ্যে ২৩ জনকে জনপ্রতি ১ লাখ টাকার চেক দেওয়া হয়েছে। বাকি ৭ জনের নাম সম্পূর্ণ না থাকায় তাদের বিকাশের মাধ্যমে আজই টাকা পরিশোধ করা হয়েছে।

জাতীয় চক্ষু বিজ্ঞান ইনস্টিটিউটে চিকিৎসাধীন ৩৩ জনের বিকাশে এবং জাতীয় অর্থোপেডিক হাসপাতাল ও পুনর্বাসন ইনস্টিটিউটে (পঙ্গু হাসপাতাল) ৫৯ জনের বিকাশে টাকা পৌঁছে দেওয়া হয়েছে।

এ পর্যন্ত জুলাই শহীদ স্মৃতি ফাউন্ডেশন থেকে ১৭৬ জন আহতকে মোট এক কোটি ৭১ লাখ ৪২ হাজার ৫০ টাকা অনুদান দেওয়া হয়েছে।​

 

[Saif]

Ex-minister Razzaque arrested

Former agriculture minister and Awami League lawmaker for Tangail-1 Abdur Razzaque was arrested in Dhaka yesterday evening.

www.thedailystar.net

Ex-minister Razzaque arrested

Former agriculture minister and Awami League lawmaker for Tangail-1 Abdur Razzaque was arrested in Dhaka yesterday evening.

Md Talebur Rahman, deputy commissioner (Media and Public Relations) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, in a text message, said Razzaque, also the then ruling party's presidium member, was arrested from the capital's Eskaton area.

Several cases were filed against him following the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government on August 5.

He was not seen in public since Hasina left the country for India.

Abdur Razzaque was first elected as member of parliament from Tangail-1 in 2001.

With Hasina in power, he served as the minister of food and disaster management from 2009 to 2012 and then as minister of food until 2013.

After the 2014 national election, he served as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance.

Razzaque was then the minister of agriculture from 2018 to 2023.​