United News of Bangladesh

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Thursday filed two cases against former Bhandaria Upazila Parishad Chairman Mirajul Islam and his wife Shamima Akhter on charges of acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income and money laundering. The cases were filed with the ACC Integrated District Office in Pirojpur in the morning. Assistant Director of ACC Mohammad Monirul Islam filed the cases as complainant, while the investigations are being supervised by Deputy Director Md Aminul Islam of the ACC’s Integrated District Office, Pirojpur. Read More: Freedom Fighter quota abuse: ACC to sue 12 PSC officials, 9 others The ACC said Md Mirajul Islam, 48, served as chairman of Bhandaria Upazila Parishad and is also proprietor of Ifti ETCL (Pvt) Ltd, Ifti Enterprise and South Bangla Trade International. The ACC found that Mirajul Islam acquired around TK 87crore immovable properties, including land, houses, flats and shops, worth Tk 36 crore 74 lakh  along with movable assets worth Tk 50 crore 61lakh including bank savings, business capital, company shares and nine vehicles. His total movable and immovable assets stood at Tk 87 crore 34 lakh while his family expenditure was calculated at Tk 29 crore 50 lakh. Thus, including family expenditure, his total assets amounted to Tk 116 croe 83 lakh, whereas his acceptable income was found to be only Tk 17 crore 71lakh. No liabilities were found in his name. The ACC alleged that Mirajul Islam illegally acquired assets worth Tk 99 crore 13 lakh beyond his known sources of income, an offence punishable under Section 27(1) of the ACC Act, 2004. The ACC further alleged that he embezzled government funds and deposited proceeds of crime amounting to 2691 crore in accounts across nine banks. Read More: ACC arrests son of former PSC driver over Tk 3.25cr illegal wealth Of the amount, Tk 26,79 crore was transferred, converted and layered through multiple bank branches to conceal the source of the illicit funds, constituting money laundering under Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012. Allegations against Shamima Akhter The ACC also filed a separate case against Mirajul Islam’s wife, Shamima Akhter, proprietor of Mess’s Shimu Enterprise, on similar charges. According to the case statement, Shamima is a licensed contractor who participated in tenders of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). The ACC alleged that she received work orders but embezzled government funds without executing the projects. It found that she acquired immovable assets worth Tk 32 crore, including family expenditure, against an acceptable income of Tk 7 crore 9 lakh. No liabilities were found in her name. Read More: ACC sues 8 over fake certificates, embezzlement at Forest Research Institute The ACC alleged that she acquired assets worth around Tk 24 crore beyond her known sources of income, punishable under Section 27(1) of the ACC Act, 2004. Besides, the ACC said analysis of her Brac Bank account revealed deposits of Tk 122 crore 75 lakh , believed to be proceeds of crime. Of this amount, Tk 122 crore 39 lakh was transferred, converted and layered through banking channels to conceal the illegal source, constituting offences under Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012. The ACC said eight more cases had earlier been filed against the couple over allegations of embezzlement of nearly Tk 1000 crore  by receiving work orders from LGED under contractor firms and misappropriating funds without executing development projects. Those cases are currently under investigation.