The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed separate cases against ruling Awami League lawmaker Abdul Mannan and his wife Shahad Ara Mannan on charge of possessing wealth worth about Tk 72 lakh which is disproportionate to their known sources of income.
About two and a half years into the government's tenure, this is the first instance the anti-graft watchdog has taken action against a ruling party politician.
The couple submitted their wealth statements almost two years ago after ACC in separate notices asked for it during the immediate-past caretaker rule in 2009.
The commission took a long time to file the cases following submission of their wealth statements. Usually, it takes no more than a month to complete an enquiry into a corruption allegation and a case is filed immediately on completion of the enquiry.
"We had to conduct enquiry twice into the wealth statements as some difficulties turned up," said ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman.
"I have submitted detailed wealth statements in two phases to the commission as they did not specify any deadline for it. Now it seems the commission did not count my second statement," said Abdul Mannan.
"This is conspiracy and I will fight against it in the court," added Mannan, who won from Bogra-1 constituency in the last general election.
According to the case statement, the anti-graft watchdog issued notice upon Mannan in August 2009 asking him to submit their wealth statement.
In reply, Mannan submitted an account of his movable and immovable property worth Tk 1.82 crore in October 2009.
During enquiry the ACC found the AL lawmaker had concealed information about wealth worth Tk 49.98 lakh. The enquiry also found Mannan had amassed wealth worth Tk 1.98 lakh beyond known sources of income, says the case statement.
In the other case, his wife Shahad has been charged with concealing information regarding Tk 13.62 lakh and means of earning wealth worth Tk 6.7 lakh.
The case statement also alleges that the couple amassed the ill-gotten wealth in between April 1997 and October 2009.
ACC Assistant Director Mohammad Ibrahim filed both the cases with Ramna police station.
According to the ACC law, the commission would carry out a full-fledged investigation into the allegations.
Source: The Daily Star
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