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Published : 19 Dec 2024, 09:18 PM
The Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, has launched an investigation into former road transport minister Obaidul Quader, businessman Salman F Rahman, and seven others over allegations of amassing illicit wealth.
The decision to initiate the inquiries was made on Thursday, said Mohammad Akhtar Hossain, director general of the ACC’s prevention division.
He said the probe stems from allegations of corruption involving the procurement of 137 buses under a specific project.
Quader, along with former road transport secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, faces allegations of orchestrating irregularities in the bus procurement process.
Awami League General Secretary Quader, elected as a lawmaker in the seventh, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth national elections, previously served as minister for youth, sports, and culture in former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's first cabinet.
From December 2011 to August 2024, he held the position of minister for road transport and bridges.
The ACC also has opened an investigation into Salman, Hasina's advisor on private industry and investment, along with Shah Alam, former managing director of IFIC Bank.
They are accused of misusing their positions to authorise fraudulent loans totalling Tk 19.07 billion, with several companies, including Blue Moon Trading Ltd, Axis Business Solutions Ltd, Everest Enterprise, Glowing Construction and Engineering Ltd, Vista International Ltd, and Skymark International Ltd, benefiting from these dubious transactions.
Salman and former law minister Anisul Haq were arrested on Aug 13 while attempting to flee by boat from Dhaka's Sadarghat after the government’s fall.
Their arrest followed incidents of violence and deaths during the quota reform movement on Jul 16 near Dhaka College. Both were interrogated by police after their arrests.
The ACC has also launched an investigation into Mohammad Najibur Rahman, the former principal secretary to the prime minister and former chairman of the National Board of Revenue, or NBR, for allegedly acquiring illegal wealth through abuse of power.
Najibur, appointed as secretary of the Internal Resources Division in 2015, was arrested by Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police on Oct 6.
Moreover, the ACC is investigating three former tax officials — additional commissioner Saiful Alam, joint commissioner KM Shamsuzzaman, and assistant commissioner Mohammad Aminul Islam — after they were involved in facilitating the illegal validation of assets worth Tk 5 billion belonging to the sons of S Alam Group Chairman Saiful Alam.
These officials were temporarily dismissed in October.
The commission has also started probing former Dhaka-16 MP Elias Uddin Mollah over allegations of illegally acquiring government land in Mirpur and amassing unlawful wealth through corruption.
Elias, who has been elected as a lawmaker in the 2008, 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections, is currently absconding after the government's fall on Aug 5.
The ACC's investigation follows widespread allegations of corruption, financial misconduct, and illegal asset acquisition involving Awami League leaders and members, particularly after violent student protests following the government's collapse.
