15 Bagerhat Pourashava employees convicted

Bagerhat Correspondent :

Some 15 employees of Bagerhat Pourashava were sent to the jail by a court of Bagerhat on Sunday noon on the charge of their illegal appointment and misappropriation of public money as per a charge sheet submitted to the court against them by the Anti Corruption Commission. On the day the accused persons appeared in the court and submitted prayers before Md. Ashraful Islam, the learned District and Session Judge, Bagerhat for their bail. But the learned Judge rejected the prayers and issued an order to send them to jail.
The accused persons are — Deepu Das (pump operator), Asaduzzaman, (Collector, Bazar Section), Jwati Debnath (Assistant Inspector of Trade licenses), Maruf Billah (Assistant Collector of taxes), Bali Shariful Islam (Assistant Collector of Taxes), Sharmin Aktar Banani (Bill-Clark of Water Section), Hasan Majhi (Truck Driver), Hasna Aktar (Sweeper Supervisor), Jilani (Sweeper Supervisor), Tania (MLSS), Apurbo Kumar Pal (Pump Operator), Nitai Chsndra Saha (Pump Operator), Mohammad Mehedi Hasan (Assistant Pump Operator), Sabbir Mahmud (Assistant Collector of Taxes) and Parvin Aktar (Assistant Tax Collector).
It is found that without circulation for the appointment to the different posts and without incompliance with the Appointment Rule of the Local Government Law of 2017 as many as 17 persons were appointed to the different posts of Bagerhat Pourashava. This illegal appointment processing was completed with the collusion between the Pourashava authorities and those who were longing for appointment. The appointees misappropriated a some of Tk.1 crore 26 lakh 88 thousand 8 hundred 53 from government as monthly salaries and allowances during the period from March 30 in the year 2017 to July 25 in the year 2020.
In this connection Tarun Kanti Ghose, Assistant Director, Anti-Corruption Commission submitted an investigation report to the court on November 25 in the year 2021 as the plaintiff accusing 18 persons including Khan Habibur Rahman, mayor of Bagerhat Pourashava and Joint Secretary of Bagerhat District Awami Leauge.
After a long investigation the ACC (Anti Corruption Commission) submitted the investigation report submitted to the court on February in the current year (2024). The court accepted the report on June 26, 2024.