by Chaitanya Chandra Halder, Shariful Islam in The Daily Star, June 26, 2023
The Criminal Investigation Department has found involvement of 37 more people in the much-talked about Tk 2,000 crore money laundering racket of Faridpur.
The newly identified suspects include current and former leaders of the ruling Awami League in the district.
The case was originally filed by the CID with Kafrul Police Station in June 2020 against Sajjad Hossain Barkat and his brother Imtiaz Hasan Rubel, both leaders of Faridpur district AL at the time.
The CID later pressed charges against 10 men. Officers got the names of the 37 new suspects from the confessional statements of six of them.
The new suspects are members of a powerful syndicate led by former minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain’s brother Khandaker Mohtesam Hossain Babar, according to the confessions.
The accused individuals allegedly manipulated tenders left and right and received cuts from contracts across government offices in Faridpur, according to the confessional statements.
The first charge sheet in the case was submitted to a court on March 3, 2021. It caused quite a stir among the local politicians who were aware of the “aggressive” tender manipulation by the syndicate.
A Dhaka court on September 1, 2022, said the charge sheet was submitted without following the proper procedure and ordered further probe.
The judge said two of the accused were not named in the charge sheet even though they confessed to their involvement in the crime. Besides, the investigator did not press charges against several others whose involvement was mentioned in multiple confessional statements.
The judge added that the investigating agency must not exclude those mentioned in more than one confessional statement.
After around nine months of investigation, CID’s Additional Superintendent of Police Raihan Uddin Khan submitted a supplementary charge sheet to a Dhaka court on Thursday, pressing charges against the 37.
The charge sheet mentions that the new suspects are on the run. The officer investigating the case appealed to the court for arrest warrants for them.
The new suspects include former president of Faridpur district Chhatra League Nishan Mahmud Shamim, former labour affairs secretary of Faridpur municipality AL Billal Hossain, leading contractor and former president of Faridpur Chamber of Commerce and Industries Siddiqur Rahman, former Faridpur Chhatra League general secretary Saiful Islam Jibon, law affairs secretary of Faridpur district AL Animesh Roy, and former Faridpur district AL vice-president and former Faridpur Sadar Upazila chairman Shamsul Alam Chowdhury.
A hearing on the charge sheet will be held on July 5.
The complaint of the case filed with Kafrul Police Station said Sajjad and Imtiaz laundered Tk 2,000 crore amassed through tender manipulation, drug smuggling, land grabbing and extortion.
Twelve people, including ex-minister’s brother Babar, and brothers Barkat and Rubel, were arrested in the case.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Uttam Kumar Biswas, who was investigating the case, submitted a charge sheet against 10 people before a Dhaka court in March 2021.
They are Barkat, Rubel, Babar, Khandaker Mosharraf’s former APS AHM Fuad, Levi, Farhan, General Secretary of Faridpur District Swechasebak League Fahad bin Wazed, former joint convener of Faridpur Jubo League Kamrul Hasan David, district Jubo League Joint Convener Mohammad Ali Minar, and Faridpur Jubo League Joint Convener Tariqul Islam alias Nasim. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/politics/news/next-general-elections-feeling-no-pressure-or-fear-3355876
