The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed a case against detained former state minister for youth and sports Obaidul Quader for accumulating wealth illegally beyond his known sources of income and concealing information in the wealth statement submitted to the commission.
ACC Assistant Director Ashraful Islam filed the case against AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader for concealing information about wealth worth Tk 15.55 lakh and accumulating wealth worth Tk 62.85 lakh illegally.
The ACC also approved submitting charge sheets against 12 high profile graft suspects including former communications minister Nazmul Huda and Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury in different corruption cases.
The others include former premier Khaleda Zia's political secretary Harris Chowdhury, detained chairman of Orion Group Obaidul Karim, former AL lawmaker Mirza Azam, former BNP lawmakers Naser Rahman and Manjurul Ahsan Munshi, former chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) Taimur Alam Khandaker, former Islami Oikya Jote lawmaker Mufti Shahidul, former Whip Ashraf Hossain and detained former state minister for communications Salahuddin Ahmed.
The case against Obaidul Quader was filed with Ramna Police Station under sections of 26(2) and 27(1) of the ACC Act and Emergency Power Rules. The former state minister was also accused of bribery in three cases filed with Paltan Police Station on September 30.
An anti-graft court on September 25 sentenced Isratunnesa, wife of Obaidul Quader, to eight years in jail in a tax evasion case. Quader was also convicted and sentenced in a tax evasion case filed by the National Board of Revenue, which the High Court stayed after he challenged it in that court.
The former minister submitted the wealth statement of Tk 1.11 crore through jail authorities on June 14 following an ACC notice on May 29. In the statement, he showed Tk 46.29 lakh in his name and Tk 64.12 lakh in the name of his wife.
The information concealed in the wealth statement includes that about a flat bought at Tk 13.62 lakh and Tk 11,634 in Fakirapul branch of Rupali Bank in the name of his wife.
Quader also showed lower price in the statement regarding purchase of a flat at Segunbagicha. He also showed different sources of his income in support of which the ACC did not find any evidence. His wealth statement showed his sources of income include money received from relatives and friends, property in the name of his mother and honorarium from newspapers for writing columns and royalty on book.
On March 9, the joint forces arrested Quader who was on the second list of graft suspects published by the ACC.