Friday, April 20, 2012

ACC to Seek Wealth info of 'cash-scandal' trio


DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, Apr 19  The Anti-corruption Commission has decided to ask former railway minister's assistant personal secretary and two suspended railway officials to submit their wealth statement.

The decision came a day after the three were quizzed by the anti-graft investigators over the recent 'cash-scandal'.

"We will issue notices on Sunday asking them to file wealth statement," ACC commissioner Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu told  on Thursday.

The trio -- ex-APS Omar Faruq Talukder, railway east zone general manager Yususf Ali Mridha and Dhaka zone railway police's commandant Enamul Haque -- appeared before the ACC investigation team on Wednesday and gave their statement about the incident. The probe team interrogated them separately for nearly three hours, officials said.

In the wee hours of Apr 10, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel reportedly detained the three while they were moving in a car allegedly with unaccounted-for Tk 7 million cash at the gate of BGB headquarters in the capital's Jigatola.

Mridha and Enamul were suspended on Sunday while Faruq was fired. Suranjit Sengupta, who became a minister for the first time in his political career of the newly-craved railways ministry barely five months ago, had announced his resignation on Monday. However, he was retained in the cabinet, but relieved of his portfolio.

An ACC official, preferring not to be named, told  that during Wednesday's interrogation Faruq claimed that the money was his own. He said Mridha and Enamul claimed that they knew nothing about the cash.

"But all of them said they were on their way to the minister's residence," the official said.

He also added that ACC will quiz the BGB personnel who were present in the spot during the incident. The corruption watchdog will also ask for the video footage of the incident.

DRIVER WILL BE SUMMONED TOO

The ACC team investigating the 'cash-scandal' will also interrogate the APS' car driver Ali Azam who has been missing since the 'cash-scandal' surfaced.

A letter has already been sent to Azam's paternal home in Chandpur on Thursday, another ACC official told seeking anonymity.

Azam went 'missing' right after the incident. His wife has alleged that he has been abducted to cover-up the truth. 

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