The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday filed a case against former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, his wife Rukmila Zaman and six others on charges of extorting Tk 42 crore from a businessman through intimidation.
ACC deputy assistant director Md Rubel Hossain filed the case at the ACC headquarters, said a press release.
The other accused are —former UCBL director Syed Kamruzzaman; AGM of Rukmila’s company Armit and owner of Imperial Trading Md Abdul Aziz, owner of Classic Trading, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, an employee of Armit and owner of Model Trading Mohammad Mishabahul Alam, owner of Crescent Traders Syed Nurul Islam and owner of Radius Trading Md Farid Uddin.
According to the case statement, the accused abused their power in collusion through fraud and deception.
They intimidated Tarafdar Ruhul Amin, managing director of UCBL’s Mahakhali branch client firms Saif Powertec Ltd and E-Engineering PLC and took a total of Tk 41.75 crore in bribes in several installments.
The complaint further stated that the money was later transferred, laundered abroad, and used for money laundering.