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Money Laundering by Top Graft Suspects

ACC fails to move on from agency probes

Julfikar Ali Manik
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has yet to act on around a dozen investigation reports on high profile graft suspects' involvement in money laundering.
Though the reports, submitted to the anti-graft body over the last 17 months, offer information about alleged money laundering by some ex-ministers, lawmakers and businessmen, the ACC has not proceeded against any of the suspects for the financial crime, said sources in the ACC.
Instead, it has confined itself to incorporating the assets that might have something to do with laundering into the cases filed for makingwealth through illegal means.
The sources said for a number of reasons the ACC is not taking any measures regarding the reports. For instance, they said, the whole process of proving money laundering charges is very complex under the Money Laundering Prevention Ordinance, 2008, promulgated recently.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an ACC official said, "We have received some investigation reports from the task forces under the National Coordination Committee to Combat Corruption and Crime. But for some technical reasons we could not take any legal course of action."
He said since most of the investigations were carried out in the light of the now repealed Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2002, it
is difficult to prove cases within the framework of the new law.
However, the official added, they have started working to find out ways to prepare those reports afresh following the new money laundering prevention ordinance.
The money laundering issue came to the fore when the joint forces on Friday arrested HRC Group Chainnan Sayeed Hossain Chowdhury at his Gulshan residence on charges of money laundering and keeping properties in different other names.
Sayeed’s arrest followed leads by an intelligence agency regarding his links to money laundering.
ACC sources however said the anti-corruption watchdog has not
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received any repon on money laundering charges against the businessman.
Talking to The Daily Star, another ACC official said there are several reports against former minister Ruhul QuddusTalukderDulu alone.
Immediately after the anti-corruption drive began in February last year. Dulu withdrewTk 1.57 crore from his account with Babubazar branch of Social Investment Bank Ltd (SI BL) and deposited it in an account of Mohammad Quddus with the same branch.
The investigators found out that it is in fact the BNP leader who owns the account in the name of Quddus.
The same month, he withdrewTk 77 lakh from his account with Moulvi bazar branch ofSIBLand paid it into an account in the name of Mohammad Mominuddin with the same branch.
Again, the investigators concluded that Dulu is the one who opened the account in the name of Mominuddin.
Sources said the investigators gathered evidence about his involvement in some more incidents of money laundering.
They proposed filing several cases against him under the anti-money laundering act, but nothing happened to that end.
An ACC official said the anti-graft body had no jurisdiction to initiate legal steps on money laundering charges until the middle of last year when the offence was included in the scheduleof the ACC Act-2004.
The government introduced anti -money laundering law in 2002, and at that time, the now defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (Bac) was responsible for taking legal steps regarding the crime.
But the ACC stopped doing anything about money laundering when the offence was left out of its schedule in 2004.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bac filed 35 cases for money laundering, but as of now there has been little progress in that regard. ’
The present government repealed the anti-money laundering act of 2002 and the president promulgated a new ordinance this year to prevent illegal transfer of money
ACC officials said so far they have won one money laundering case and that was against Rajib Siraj, son of exBNP m inister Sha jah an Si raj.
They have filed cases also against former Awami League (AL) lawmaker AHM Mostafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal and owner of Uttara GroupGindhan Lai Modi.