Amid the investigation of illegal wealth on Mohammad Shahid Islam alias Kazi Papul, an independent Member of Parliament from Laxmipur-2 constituency, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is now opening the investigation against four of his henchmen as ACC believes that they are also members of a human trafficking racket.
The four are—Jamshed Kabir Bakibillah, convener of Raipur Municipal Awami League in Laxmipur district, SM Salauddin Tipu, Upazila Chairman of Laxmipur Sadar Upazila who is also president of Laxmipur district Jubo League, Shakawat Hossen Arif, member of Laxmipur Zila Parishad and Nur Uddin Chowdhury Noyon, president of Laxmipur Zila Awami League.
ACC is also investigating the wealth of wife of Kazi Papul, Selina Islam, who is also a parliament member of the reserved seat for women and his daughter Wafa Islam and his sister-in-law Jesmin Pradhan, who are also barred for leaving the country due to an ACC imposed travel ban on them.
Talking with the Business Post on Friday Md. Salauddin, deputy director of ACC, said, “We are launching a comprehensive investigation against all the responsible persons in this scam who directly or indirectly benefited from human trafficking and possessing illegal wealth beyond legal income source.”
The assigned officer Md. Salauddin who is digging into the undisclosed wealth of these Awami League leaders sent letters to the sub-registrar office of Dhaka, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Raipur seeking information on land, flat, plot and other properties registered against their names.
ACC learned that there are two flats in Uttara, eight microbuses and a four-storey building in Raipur underJamshed Kabir's possession which doesn’t match with his legal source of income. He also rides a car which costs Tk 1.5 crore.
ACC in last March sent a similar letter seeking wealth information of Selina Islam wife of Kazi Papul, his daughter Wafa Islam and his sister-in-law Jesmin Pradan to the concerned department.
The ACC is yet to receive those information as coronavirus pandemic shattered the pace of work in public offices as the country went to general holiday from March 26 for more than two months to contain the spread of deadly Covid-19.
Piles of allegations against Kazi Papul
According to the allegations submitted by ACC, Paplu amassed Tk1400 crore by human trafficking to Kuwait.
The ACC allegations also said, "The Laxmipur-2 MP laundered money in different countries through illegal channels. He brought Tk 280 crore in the country by using different accounts of his close aides in 2016 and in this effort, some bankers helped him.
He became the director of NRB Commercial Bank by purchasing shares worth Tk 50 crore. His wife too bought shares from this bank by Tk 30 crore.
Apart from the shares in the banking sector, Papul also bought two flats in Gausia development project at Gulshan-1. He bought another flat of 9000 sqft from Gausia Islamia project in Gulshan-2 in the name of his wife.
He and his wife acquired Tk 91 crore worth property in different parts of Raipur and elsewhere of the Laxmipur district.
The anti-corruption body through investigation also finds that Papul bought wage earners bond for his wife Tk 50 crore and bond worth Tk 20 crore for his daughter from the wage-earners branch of Sonali Bank in Dhaka.
There is also fixed deposits of Tk 40 crore, Tk 10 crore and Tk 20 crore against Papul, his wife and daughter respectively in the NRB Commercial Bank. There is a six-storey building in Bashundhara Residential area in the name of Kazi Papul’s wife as well.
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