Home ›› 04 Jan 2023 ›› Front
He once had financial constraints. But now he has a lot of money and owns many properties. Though he is just a fourth-grade employee at Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) Limited, working as a meter reader at its Shyamoli Network Operations and Customer Service office in the capital, he allegedly accumulated riches over the years through corruption.
Allegations against AKM Rafiqul Islam include providing illegal electricity connections, meter tempering, and bill manipulation. An investigation by The Business Post found that among other properties, he owns two multi-storey houses – house 4 and 7 on road 1 at Chand Udyan in the capital’s Mohammadpur.
Besides, Shoaib Hossain, a resident of Chand Udyan, filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against Rafiqul on December 29 last year, accusing him of amassing wealth estimated at Tk 20 crore through corruption and a variety of dishonest means.
Shoaib said in the complaint that apart from the two houses at Chand Udyan, Rafiqul had used illegally-earned money to purchase several acres of cropland in his hometown as well as a road-facing flat on the 2nd floor of Hurjahan Villa on road 1 in Mohammadpur’s Katasur and another one in Lalmatia.
Interestingly, Rafiqul himself admitted to this correspondent he had built the two Chand Udyan houses with money earned through corruption. He requested not to publish reports against him and also offered bribes.
This correspondent recently went to Chand Udyan and saw Saad Biswas Mansion, one of the two houses owned by Rafiqul in the area. It is a four-storey building. Ayub Ali, caretaker of the house, said Rafiqul had bought the three-katha land 10-12 years ago.
“He later built the house and rented the flats. This house has illegal power connections, which he arranged as a DPDC employee. A DPDC team fined him for this in 2022,” he said.
He also said Rafiqul had never stayed in this house. “He owns a flat in Katasur and lives there. The flat is in a building developed by Latif Real Estate.”
A local shopkeeper, who was a renter at Saad Biswas Mansion, said Rafiqul worked at the DPDC Satmasjid office in the late 90s.
“Development work at Dhaka Udyan, Chand Udyan, Mohammadi Housing, and Navodaya Housing Society was going on along the banks of the Buriganga River at the time. Rickshaw and motor vehicle garages sprang up.
“Rafiqul got involved in various dishonest acts, including providing illegal power lines as well as meter and bill tampering. He was also involved in massive irregularities in residential and commercial meter sales,” he added.
Multiple DPDC sources and Chand Udyan residents said Rafiqul had become rich while working at the DPDC Satmasjid office. In 2007, he bought Saad Biswas Mansion for Tk 30 lakh. The current market value of the house is around Tk 2 crore. In 2018, he bought the other house on the same road at Chand Udyan. Its current market value is around Tk 1.5 crore. In front of the two houses, there is an empty five-katha plot.
Locals said Rafiqul had paid Tk 30 lakh in advance recently to purchase the plot owned by a Bangladesh Bank official.
When this correspondent met Rafiqul at his office recently, he first said all his properties are owned by his father-in-law and he is just taking care of those. He later admitted he had acquired the properties through graft.
He then requested not to publish any report against him. He also said many journalists had talked to him before about the matter but nothing happened to him. He then offered money to dissuade this correspondent from reporting his corruption. Moreover, he later had a person, who identified himself as a journalist, phoning this correspondent to negotiate over the matter.
A resident of Saad Biswas Mansion told The Business Post, “You have no idea how big a criminal he [Rafiqul] is. Many police officials and journalists came, but none could do anything. He managed everyone by giving money.”
Shoaib said in his complaint that Rafiqul, son of Faiz Uddin Biswas and Tahirun Nesa of Boalmari village in Pabna’s Santhia upazila, had financial problems before joining DPDC as a meter reader.
His fortune then slowly started to change. He provided illegal electricity connections in slums and commercial establishments as well as tampered with meters to reduce the bills of residential customers, making a lot of money every month illegally. Shoaib also said Rafiqul has two motorbikes and two microbuses for personal use. Moreover, he got a flat as a mortgage by lending Tk 10 lakh and then gave it to his sister. He is now trying to purchase the flat.
