The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) published the fourth list of graft suspects yesterday, comprising 35 people including 11 former BNP legislators, five former Awami League lawmakers, a former Jatiya Party MP and five bureaucrats.
The list includes high-profile names like BNP leader and Dhaka City Corporation Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, AL leaders Tofail Ahmed and Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, former BNP state minister Maj (retd) Kamrul Islam, former BNP state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former deputy minister for food Asadul Habib Dulu, former BNP whip and former Red Crescent Society chairman Shahidul Haque Jamal, Khulna City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and former adviser to a caretaker government Justice Fazlul Haque.
The names on the list of 35 are derived from the list of 80 graft suspects, which was made available to different media and published on September 27.
"The fourth list of 35 people whom the government suspects to be corrupt people," ACC Secretary Mukhles Ur Rahman said declaring the publication of the list during a regular meeting with newsmen at the commission's head office yesterday afternoon.
The list also includes the name of former chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) Taimur Alam Khandaker, Proshika Chairman Kazi Faruque Ahmed, former managing director of Essential Drugs Company Ltd Harun-Al Rashid and former managing director of Teletalk Md Obaidullah.
Three out of the 11 former BNP lawmakers and one out of the five former AL lawmakers are behind bars on different charges. BNP leader Shish Muhammad of Rajshahi, mentioned on yesterday's list, is charge-sheeted acused in three cases, two of them in connection with militancy.
With the publication of the fourth list, the number of alleged high-profile corruptionists stands at 177. Earlier, names of 142 graft suspects were published by the ACC in three phases. The first list was published on February 18 with names of 50 graft suspects on it.
The ACC would now initiate primary enquiry into their alleged corruptions and based on the enquiry reports, the commission would serve notices to them asking the graft suspects to submit their wealth statements within 14 days.
The ACC is likely to confirm by next Monday when notices against the new corruption suspect would be issued.
According to the ACC rules, after receiving the notice from the commission a graft suspect would get seven working days to submit his or her wealth statement. A person can apply for extra seven days' time, if he or she feels the need to do so.
The commission would go for legal actions or file a case against a suspect if the suspect does not submit his or her wealth statement within the stipulated time.
The lists of the graft suspects had been prepared through a secret investigation initiated by the anti-graft body and different government intelligence agencies with the help of Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR) and other government offices.
The taskforces of National Coordination Committee to Combat Corruption and Serious Crime have been saying for the last few days that a fresh list--the last one--of corruption suspects would be published soon.
However, on October 2, the ACC secretary told reporters that the new list of graft suspects would come to the commission in piecemeal fashion.
FULL LIST OF SUSPECTS
1. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, 2. AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed, 3. Former BNP state minister Maj (retd) Kamrul Islam, 4. AL presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, 5. Khulna City Corporation Mayor Shaikh Tayebur Rahman, 6. Former BNP MP Shahidul Haq Jamal, 7. Former adviser to the prime minister (Khaleda Zia) Prof Jahanara Begum, 8. Son of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, Shafiur Rahman Babu, 9. Former BNP state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain, 10. Former BNP MP Sardar Shakhawat Hossain Bakul, 11. Former BNP MP Elias Ali, 12. Former AL MP AKM Rahmatullah, 13. Former law secretary Alauddin Sardar, 14. Former adviser to a caretaker government Justice M Fazlul Huq, 15. Former AL state minister KM Jahangir, 16. Former APS (2) to ex-prime minister (PM) Khaleda Zia, Deputy Secretary Abdul Matin, 17. Former chairman of BRTC Taimur Alam Khandaker, 18. Former APS (1) to ex-PM Khaleda Zia, Deputy Secretary Shamsul Alam, 19. Former managing director of Essential Drugs Company Ltd Harun-Al Rashid, 20. Former communications secretary Rezaul Hayat, 21. Deputy Secretary Alauddin Nasim, 22. Former AL MP Quazi Zafar Ullah, 23. Former BNP MP Fazlul Haque Milon, 24. Former BNP MP Abul Khayer Bhuiyan, 25. Former BNP MP Prof Jainal Abedin alias VP Jainal, 26. Former BNP MP Dewan Salauddin, 27. Proshika Chairman Kazi Faruque, 28. Former BNP deputy minister Asadul Habib Dulu, 29. Former Jatiya Party MP Mashiur Rahman Ranga, 30. Former managing director of Teletalk Md Obaidullah, 31. Building inspector and Rajuk CBA president Amir Khasru, 32. Former Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) secretary Eshaq Ali Khan Panna, 33. Former chairman of Srimangal municipality Mohsin Mia alias Madhu, 34. Former BCL president Enamul Huq Shamim, and 35. BNP leader Shish Muhammad of Rajshahi.