ACC to look into Moosa bin Shamsher’s wealth

The ACC will investigate if Bangladeshi business magnate Moosa bin Shamsher has stashed way illegally earned money.

An ACC official told bdnews24.com that the commission took the decision on Monday following a report in Business Asia, an international business magazine.

The official said on condition of anonymity: “A report was published in Business Asia on Moosa bin Shamsher in June this year. It said he has $7 billion in a Swiss Bank.”

“The investigation would try to trace the money sources and ascertain if money-laundering was involved,” he added.

When asked, ACC Commissioner M Sahabuddin said: “Yes. A decision has been made to look into his money.”

Called the ‘Prince of Bangladesh’ by a section of the international media, Shamsher is the father of the son-in-law of Awami League Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim.

Shamsher, the Chairman and CEO of the Datco Group, was born in Faridpur district on Oct 15, 1950. He started his business career as a manpower exporter but international media usually portray him as an arms dealer.

He attracted huge media attention after offering the Labour Party and Tony Blair 5 million pounds as campaign donation during UK’s 1997 general elections.

The ACC official said they had decided to linvestigate Shamsher’s wealth in 2011 following a report in a Bangladesh newspaper that said he had Tk 510 billion with a Swiss bank. However, the commission could not make any headway in the probe.

He said: “We had requested Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit to contact the Swiss Bank (for information about Shamsher). But they (central bank) could not give us any information in the last three years.”

The official said the commission would contact the BB Financial Intelligence Unit again soon.