ACC finds no illegal wealth possessed by Khaleda, Hasina
Friday, 7 November 2008
The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) watchdogs carrying out the current purge have found no illegal wealth possessed by former Prime Ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, a senior official said Thursday, reports UNB.
They got the clean chit more than a year after both the former Prime Ministers had submitted their wealth statements to the Commission and, in the meantime, spent over a year in prison on graft charges on other counts.
Speaking at the Commission's regular briefing, ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal revealed the anti-graft body decided to close the matters, as allegations against the two ex-PMs of acquiring illegal wealth "were not proved after scrutinising their wealth statements".
Asked if Khaleda and Hasina were informed about the ACC decision, he said, "The decision has been taken a while ago. There's a process to inform and everything will be done as per laws and rules."
The ACC took quite a long while to take decisions on the wealth statements submitted by the ex-premiers. Usually, much less time is taken to make a decision.
About the delays, the ACC chairman and the spokesperson had repeatedly said that the time was required for thorough examinations of the inquiry reports submitted by the inquiry officers, appointed after the submission of the statements.
Legal wrangling involving the High Court and the Appellate Divisions was also responsible for the delays. The officers could not conduct their inquiries for quite some time for the court orders.
Amidst the caretaker government's anti-graft campaign following the 1/11 changeover, both Khaleda and Hasina were issued notices by the reconstituted ACC on July 17 directing them to submit their accounts of wealth within seven working days. Upon applications, both of them were allowed another seven working days to comply with the edicts.
Khaleda received her notice the following day while Hasina, who was in jail at that time, received it on July 19.
The BNP chairperson complied with the ACC directive when she, through her lawyer, submitted her statement on August 6. On the other hand, Hasina, after legal wrangles, submitted her statement on September 3.
In the statements, both the former Prime Ministers showed that they possessed moveable and immovable property worth around Tk 35 million.
Khaleda in her statement showed that apart from other assets, including two houses in Dhaka Cantonment and Gulshan, she has over Tk 35.4 million in the forms of bank accounts and fixed deposits.
According to the statement, she has bank balance of about Tk 19 million in eight accounts and there are 13 FDRs having about Tk 16.5 million. The total money she has got comes to Tk 3,54,58,084.
Her immovable property includes one house in cantonment on 2.72 acre, one in Gulshan on about one and half bighas, about 10 katha land in Savar and 8.0 decimal land in Uttarkhan area.
In the statement she claimed that the worth of her immovable property is Tk 12,405. According to Khaleda's lawyer, the late President Ziaur Rahman had bought the lands in Savar and Uttarkhan in the early 1970s for Tk 9,000 and 3,000 respectively. Khaleda acquired two houses in the capital from government for token money after the death of Zia in 1981.
The former Prime Minister also possesses 50-vori gold, including jewels, four vehicles (one Toyota car, two Toyota jeeps and one Nissan jeep), 10 air-coolers, three televisions, seven sets of sofa and two sets of dining tables.
She has a liability too, amounting to Tk 2.2 million.
About the source of income, Khaleda mentioned a one-time grant from government, life insurance of Zia, pension and other allowances after Zia's death, the rent from Gulshan residence from 1982 to 2007, honorarium and allowances received as three-time PM and one-time leader of the opposition, TA/DA for government works and others.
About the FDRs, it was stated that most of them were opened in the early 1980s when Khaleda was not politically established.
In her statement, Hasina showed that the worth of her moveable and immoveable assets is about Tk 35 million.
She showed having approximately 8.07 acres of land in her home district of Gopalganj while 0.78 acre in Khulna. She has also some land in Rangpur, but the amount was not mentioned in the statement.
The AL chief has eight bank accounts in different banks. Besides, she has a fixed deposit of over Tk 21.8 million in Sonali Bank's Jatiya Sangsad branch, a fixed deposit of about Tk 0.344 million in Pubali Bank' s Motijheel branch and a fixed deposit of about Tk 0.8 million in Agrani Bank's main branch.
She has two lockers in Agrani Bank and one in Pubali Bank.
The former Prime Minister has two jeeps, two rifles and one pistol, according to the statement.
They got the clean chit more than a year after both the former Prime Ministers had submitted their wealth statements to the Commission and, in the meantime, spent over a year in prison on graft charges on other counts.
Speaking at the Commission's regular briefing, ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal revealed the anti-graft body decided to close the matters, as allegations against the two ex-PMs of acquiring illegal wealth "were not proved after scrutinising their wealth statements".
Asked if Khaleda and Hasina were informed about the ACC decision, he said, "The decision has been taken a while ago. There's a process to inform and everything will be done as per laws and rules."
The ACC took quite a long while to take decisions on the wealth statements submitted by the ex-premiers. Usually, much less time is taken to make a decision.
About the delays, the ACC chairman and the spokesperson had repeatedly said that the time was required for thorough examinations of the inquiry reports submitted by the inquiry officers, appointed after the submission of the statements.
Legal wrangling involving the High Court and the Appellate Divisions was also responsible for the delays. The officers could not conduct their inquiries for quite some time for the court orders.
Amidst the caretaker government's anti-graft campaign following the 1/11 changeover, both Khaleda and Hasina were issued notices by the reconstituted ACC on July 17 directing them to submit their accounts of wealth within seven working days. Upon applications, both of them were allowed another seven working days to comply with the edicts.
Khaleda received her notice the following day while Hasina, who was in jail at that time, received it on July 19.
The BNP chairperson complied with the ACC directive when she, through her lawyer, submitted her statement on August 6. On the other hand, Hasina, after legal wrangles, submitted her statement on September 3.
In the statements, both the former Prime Ministers showed that they possessed moveable and immovable property worth around Tk 35 million.
Khaleda in her statement showed that apart from other assets, including two houses in Dhaka Cantonment and Gulshan, she has over Tk 35.4 million in the forms of bank accounts and fixed deposits.
According to the statement, she has bank balance of about Tk 19 million in eight accounts and there are 13 FDRs having about Tk 16.5 million. The total money she has got comes to Tk 3,54,58,084.
Her immovable property includes one house in cantonment on 2.72 acre, one in Gulshan on about one and half bighas, about 10 katha land in Savar and 8.0 decimal land in Uttarkhan area.
In the statement she claimed that the worth of her immovable property is Tk 12,405. According to Khaleda's lawyer, the late President Ziaur Rahman had bought the lands in Savar and Uttarkhan in the early 1970s for Tk 9,000 and 3,000 respectively. Khaleda acquired two houses in the capital from government for token money after the death of Zia in 1981.
The former Prime Minister also possesses 50-vori gold, including jewels, four vehicles (one Toyota car, two Toyota jeeps and one Nissan jeep), 10 air-coolers, three televisions, seven sets of sofa and two sets of dining tables.
She has a liability too, amounting to Tk 2.2 million.
About the source of income, Khaleda mentioned a one-time grant from government, life insurance of Zia, pension and other allowances after Zia's death, the rent from Gulshan residence from 1982 to 2007, honorarium and allowances received as three-time PM and one-time leader of the opposition, TA/DA for government works and others.
About the FDRs, it was stated that most of them were opened in the early 1980s when Khaleda was not politically established.
In her statement, Hasina showed that the worth of her moveable and immoveable assets is about Tk 35 million.
She showed having approximately 8.07 acres of land in her home district of Gopalganj while 0.78 acre in Khulna. She has also some land in Rangpur, but the amount was not mentioned in the statement.
The AL chief has eight bank accounts in different banks. Besides, she has a fixed deposit of over Tk 21.8 million in Sonali Bank's Jatiya Sangsad branch, a fixed deposit of about Tk 0.344 million in Pubali Bank' s Motijheel branch and a fixed deposit of about Tk 0.8 million in Agrani Bank's main branch.
She has two lockers in Agrani Bank and one in Pubali Bank.
The former Prime Minister has two jeeps, two rifles and one pistol, according to the statement.