Six bigwigs, two journalists get under probe

Six bigwigs, including former army chief Aziz Ahmed, and a journalist couple get under the scanner of tax sleuths for suspected money laundering-and tax-evasion offences, officials say.
The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) under the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will seek bank-account details of the individuals by sending letters to all financial institutions.
Among the individuals are Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, the removed Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation, SK Sur Chowdhury, former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, and Helaluddin  Ahmed, former election commission secretary. The two Journalists on the CIC list are Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed, both already detained on other charges.
Income-tax files of the five impugned taxpayers would be investigated to check their declared assets and income furnished in the tax returns.
Official sources said the CIC would investigate their asset and property through field-level inspection.
These persons have been listed following widespread allegations against them for having ill-gotten money.
It has been alleged that Mr Taposh, Aziz Ahmed and Sur fled the country while Rupa and Shakil are in prison.
Earlier, the CIC sent letters to the banks, nonbank financial institutions, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of National Savings, seeking bank-account details of five business tycoons-Nazrul Islam Mazumder of Nasa group, Aziz Khan of Summit group, Salman F Rahman of Beximco group, Ahmed Akbar Sobhan of Basundhara Group, Obaidul Karim of Orion group.
Also, Tax Zone-15 under the NBR sought financials of S.Alam's family members and their associated companies, Awami League leader Sheikh Selim and his family members.
"The CIC has compiled a list of potential tax-evaders based on published news and specific confidential information," one CIC official said.
Actions will be taken against these individuals and institutions under the Income Tax Act 2023, and the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 to recover evaded taxes and impose penalties.
The CIC officials said some more controversial persons in financial sector would face scrutiny soon pending actions as per law to recover taxes.
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