Court Correspondent :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched an investigation into the illegal assets of Emdadul Haque alias Dada Emdad, assistant private secretary (APS) of former minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, for amassing huge wealth abusing power over the last decade.
The anti-graft watch dog has extended timeline for submitting information upon request of Emdad.
As APS of Gazi, Emdad drew salary on rank of Senior Assistant Secretary at sixth grade. An APS can receive maximum Tk 67,010 as monthly salary.
In 13 years, he received Tk 1.5 billion as salary. However, Emdad amassed wealth abusing power. He has hidden property worth billions of taka in his and others’ names in the capital, Narayanganj and Sirajganj, according to investigation.
ACC Commissioner Jahurul Haque said that investigation has been started after verifying the complaint.
“After the investigation, the investigating officer submits a report to the commission to know about the truth of the complaint,” he said.
“Generally, a case can be made if provable documents are produced in the court. This case will not be an exception. ACC will take a decision after reviewing the inquiry report. The investigating officer has been urged to complete the investigation in time,” he added.
When asked, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said, “The Commission can receive a complaint from any source and investigate it if it is scrutinized.
In the interest of investigation, the accused is summoned for questioning. The authenticity of the various pieces of information obtained in the investigation needs to be confirmed.”
“Since Emdadul Haque served as the APS of a former minister, it will be understood only after the end of the investigation whether there is anyone else’s involvement in this matter or not. If the preliminary inquiry finds evidence of acquiring assets other than known income, he will be served with a notice to file a statement of assets,” the lawyer said added.
ACC launched investigating the allegation of obtaining assets outside known income verifying specific allegations against Emdad on 22 February this year.
The Commission appointed ACC Assistant Director Prabir Kumar Das as the investigating officer to investigate the complaint on 3 March.
Recently, a letter was sent to Emdad asking some important documents, including income tax documents, bank account numbers, bank statements, and national identity cards, from the commission. However, Emdad failed to provide the information in the first phase.
On Sunday, Emdad came to the ACC and requested additional time, expressing his inability to provide the information to the investigating officer.
ACC gave him one more week to provide the information. At the same time, the account of all immovable and immovable assets of Emdad has also been sought.
He is expected to provide this information to the ACC early next week. Apart from this, intelligence units are working to collect more confidential information about Emdad’s wealth.
Emdadul, son of Montu Mia of Dargah Para village under Shahjadpur municipality of Sirajganj, has recently invested in dredging and real estate business in different areas. He has amassed huge illegal wealth with the magical touch of Narayanganj-1 constituency MP Golam Dastgir Gazi.
Emdadul has been involved in various crimes — extortion, land grabbing, illegal drug business and patronising terrorists in Rupganj.
The APS is ‘more powerful’ than Minister Gazi, according to locals. No entrepreneurs can start factories without giving extortion to Emdadul.
Most of the identified terrorists in Rupganj have close relations with him. The criminals shared photos with the controversial APS and Minister Gazi on social media different times.
With this limited salary, an officer cannot construct buildings in different areas of the capital. Emdadul owns a high-walled building near South Banasree Jame Masjid (House 30/B-30/C of Road No. 13/3 of K Block).
Besides, the controversial officer owns 14 flats in two buildings in Basabo, according to Saiful Islam, former caretaker of his house.
Emdadul lives in an apartment of Best Living Limited at North Basabo, according to media investigation. Its security guard said Emdadul has two flats in that apartment building.
He lives on the 5th floor. The price of the flat is at least Tk50 lakh. There is a car with government sticker in this building.
