Former Dhaka mayor Khoka’s 66.5 acres of land in Gazipur confiscated

After the confiscation of house and land in Dhaka’s Gulshan and land in Narayanganj, BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s 66.5 acres of arable land in Gazipur have been impounded by the local administration.

Kaliakoir Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Sanwar Hossain told reporters that his administration and police on Sunday evening confiscated the pieces of land at the Upazila.

They also put up signboards saying the move was made in line with a Dhaka court verdict which had found the former Dhaka City mayor guilty of acquiring them through illegal means.

The government, following the court order, has already confiscated Khoka’s five kathas of land and a building at Gulshan and 50 acres of land at Narayanganj’s Rupganj.

Khoka has been in the US since May 2014.

The Kaliakoir Upazila administration had started searching for these lands after the court in October last year sentenced him to 13 years in prison when it found the charges levelled by the Anti Corruption Commission proven.

These pieces of land are situated at Janerchala, Kaliadah, Banshtoli, Taltoli, Kancharos and Uttar Rangamati.

Gazipur Deputy Commissioner SM Alam said the 66.5 acres of land have been recorded as government acquired land following the court order.

Apart from the sentencing, the court had ordered for immediate confiscation of the land and assets worth Tk 100.52 million Khoka had acquired illegally.

As he is in the US, the trial was held in absentia.

The ACC had filed the case in 2008 during the military-backed caretaker government’s regime.

It said that the BNP leader had acquired wealth worth Tk 100.52 million through illegal means and evaded taxes on assets worth Tk 96.5 million.

However, Khoka had called the verdict ‘politically motivated’.