The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) interrogated on Monday a former deputy secretary of the Housing and Public Works Ministry in connection with the allegation of causing a loss of Tk 150 million to the government by allocating housing plots to journalists.
ACC deputy director and investigation officer Jatan Kumar Roy grilled former deputy secretary Benjamin Ahmed for nearly two and a half hours from 9:30 am at the ACC head office.
According to the ACC source, Benjamin Ahmed was involved in the process of plot allocation. So, he was questioned to know how the plots were allocated.
On March 6, 2014, the ACC filed a case against four people, including former state minister for housing and public works Alamgir Kabir, in connection with their involvement in the plot allocation to journalists, violating the rules.
The ACC has already interrogated a number of people, including Alamgir Kabir and former National Housing Authority chairman Golam Nabi, in connection with alleged irregularities.
The ACC also took statement from Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and former Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas on October 12 in connection with the case.
According to the case statement, former state minister Alamgir Kabir sent a letter to the then Prime Minister in 2002 with a request for building a housing area 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 in this regard following the rules.
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, the accused NHA officials for their personal gains allocated seven acres of land in the city's Mirpur area for the Dhaka Journalists Cooperative Limited at a lower price against the market value, violating the housing policy 1993.
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