ACC approves filing chargesheet against Kh Mosharraf

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) approved Thursday a proposal for submitting chargesheet against former health and family welfare minister and senior BNP leader Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a money laundering case.
ACC public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told The Financial Express that the Commission approved the proposal at its regular meeting.
Nearly seven months after filing of the case, the ACC investigator submitted investigation report to the Commission. ACC director Nasim Anwar filed the case against Mosharraf Hossain for allegedly siphoning off money abroad on February 6, 2014.
According to the ACC investigation report, Dr Mosharraf laundered British about £8,00,000 equivalent to Tk 954 million he earned illegally in the United Kingdom when he was the health and family welfare minister during 2001-2006.
Earlier, the ACC collected documents related to his graft allegations from the British government through the mutual legal assistance request (MLAR) of the Attorney General's Office.
After examining evidence, the ACC found that a fixed term deposit of about 8,00,000 British pound was deposited in a joint account (AC 108492) of Dr Mosharraf and his wife Bilkis Akter Hossain at Lloyds TSB Offshore Private Banking, Guernsey.
After 1994, Dr Mosharraf and his wife opened the bank account in the UK bank using diplomatic passports. Although Bangladesh Bank's approval is mandatory in opening a bank account abroad, they did not get it from the central bank, the investigation report says.
As the ACC investigation found that Mosharraf was involved in siphoning off money, the Commission gave clearance to submit charge-sheet to the court against him, an ACC senior official said.
ACC official also said Dr Mosharraf and his wife Bilkis Akter Hossain failed to prove that they earned money during their stay in the UK for higher education as they claimed during investigation.