The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) has quizzed BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas and Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan over alleged anomalies in allocation of 7-acre land by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK).
ACC deputy director Jatan Kumar Roy interviewed the shipping minister for an hour from 11:00 am and Mirza Abbas for an hour from 3:00 pm Sunday at the commission's head office in the city.
The seven acres of land in Mirpur were allotted to the Dhaka Journalists Cooperatives Society Limited during the last BNP-led alliance government's tenure when Mirza Abbas was the minister for housing and public works and his deputy was Alamgir Kabir.
On September 21 last, Jatan Kumar Roy sent separate letters to the incumbent and former ministers requesting them to give statements at the ACC headquarters on October 12.
Earlier on March 6, ACC filed a case for allocating the seven acres of land to the journalists' co-operatives society at Tk 33.9 million, though the market value of the land was Tk 190 million.
The accused are former state minister Alamgir along with former deputy director of the National Housing Authority (NHA) Azaharul Haque and its office assistant Matiar Rahman and cashier Mansur Alam.
The land was earlier allotted to Jhilmil Cooperative Limited. Shahjahan Khan was the president of the cooperative society which earlier took the land on lease from the government, but again the land was leased out to Dhaka Journalists Cooperative Society Limited.
As Shahjahan Khan was the president of Jhilmil Cooperative at that time, the commission took his statement to learn how the land was distributed among the journalists, cancelling an earlier lease.
Talking to reporters in front of the ACC head office, Shahjahan Khan said he was interviewed as a witness, not an accused.
"I came to the ACC to give my statement for the sake of investigation," he added.
The shipping minister said the NHA had allocated plots to a section of journalists during the BNP-led four-party alliance government 'violating' the government rules.
Talking to the reporters, Mirza Abbas said no irregularities occurred during allocation.
"Government allotted the land according to the law and there were no irregularities. Now whatever government says is right and whatever we say is wrong," he told reporters.
According to the case statement, former state minister Alamgir Kabir sent a letter to the then prime minister in 2002 with a request for developing a housing project for journalists, writers, artistes and cultural activists without receiving any application from them.
In response, the then prime minister sent the letter to the housing and public works secretary asking him to take steps as per the law.
As it was under process, Alamgir directed the housing and public works secretary to allocate the land from previously designated housing plots.
Without taking permission from the ministry, some NHA officials, allegedly for their personal gains, allocated seven acres of land in the city's Mirpur area to the Dhaka Journalists Cooperatives Society Limited.
BNP standing committee member and Dhaka city unit convener Mirza Abbas coming out of the headquarters of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) after interrogation in the city Sunday. — Focus Bangla Photo
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