Shawdesh desk:

The Anti-Corruption Commission has found more land properties and two buildings belonging to former Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed and his family members.

Amid confusion over Benazir’s present location, ruling Awami League general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader hinted on Sunday that he might be staying abroad now.

‘Former IGP Benazir Ahmed has to return home if he is found guilty of corruption, and the government will not compromise on the issue,’ Quader said at a press conference in Dhaka.

ACC officials said they got information on around 50 bighas of land of Benazir and his family members and detected two seven-storey buildings in Dhaka’s Uttara and Vatara areas, respectively.

On Thursday, the sub-registrar’s office in Gazipur’s Kaliganj delivered Benazir and his family’s land deeds to the Directorate of Registration, which subsequently transferred the documents to the ACC.

Five deeds registered with the Kaliganj sub-registrar office showed that they were registered in Benazir, his wife Jissan Mirza, and their older daughter Farhin Rishta Binte Benazir’s names.

According to deed No. 512/17, Benazir brought 15.75 decimal lands from Sudheb Das, son of Sudhir Das of Bandakhola village in Kaliganj, by paying Tk 5.64 lakh.

He also purchased 11.871 decimal lands under deed No. 8360/16 from Kashinath Mallick, Paresh Mallick, and Ashutosh Mallick of Betuartek village, paying Tk 3.46 lakh.

Benazir purchased 28.59 decimal lands under deed No. 2038/2017 from Pradeep Rosario and Taramoni Esen of Chaitan village for Tk 8.42 lakh.

He purchased 8.15 decimal lands under deed No. 1973/17 from Henry Taskano, Richard Taskano, Raymon Ronald Taskano, Rebecca Kuya, and Rina Taskano of Parartek Village for Tk 2.40 lakh.

Benazir also purchased 40 decimal lands from Ashutosh Ghosh and Sushil Ghosh of Punyartek village in Kaliganj under deed No. 9098/17 for Tk 11.87 lakh.

Benazir Ahmed started buying land in the area in 2016 when the price of land was Tk 20 to Tk 25 lakh per bigha. But he showed poor prices for the land in the deeds, said ACC officials.

ACC officials also said that they found a seven-storey building constructed by Benazir on land in the name of his wife Jissan Mirza in Sector-11 in Uttara, Dhaka, while another seven-storey building was found in the capital’s Vatara area in Dhaka.

However, Benazir recently sold the building in Vatara, said ACC officials, without giving more details about the two buildings.

ACC officials found negligence on the part of bank officials regarding the withdrawal of money by Benazir from his bank accounts before the seizure of the accounts.

They said that ACC sent a letter to the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit in the third week of April seeking the bank details of Benazir, but they received the information nearly one month later, on May 21.

Benazir withdrew the money during that time as the information could be leaked, ACC officials suspected.

Contacted, ACC chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah told New Age on Sunday that Benazir could not withdraw any money from his bank accounts after the commission got information about his details.

‘The inquiry team is working to find information, and measures will be taken based on the findings,’ he said.

‘The commission will take necessary action if it finds the illegal wealth of Benazir and other involved people. Action will also be taken against the beneficiaries of his wealth,’ he added.

A case was filed on Sunday against four people, including the owner of Bhawal Resort & Spa, on charges of grabbing land.

Ex-IGP Benazir reportedly has a share in the resort.

Six people, including a freedom fighter, Md Bazlul Haque, filed the case with the first joint and district sessions judges’ court in Gazipur.

The defendants are Showkat Aziz Russell, chairman of Amber Group, Rafiqul Islam, resident of the North Baniyarchala area of Bhawalgarh union, Sumon, manager of Bhawal Resort and Spa and it’s another manager, Md Kamrul Islam.

The court summoned the defendants to appear before the court on November 6 to give their statement in this regard.

On May 26, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court ordered the seizure of assets, including four flats registered in 119 deeds in the name of Benazir and his family members, to facilitate a proper investigation into graft allegations against them.

The court also ordered the freezing of four BO accounts and the seizure of four companies owned by Benazir and his family members, as well as their shares in 15 more companies.

Earlier on May 23, the same court also ordered to freeze 33 financial accounts, including the 27 bank accounts of Benazir and his family members, while also attaching their properties under 83 deeds.

ACC documents showed that Benazir and his family bought at least 204.5 acres of land between 2009 and 2023.

Of them, 112 acres were purchased during his tenure as IGP and RAB director general.

The lands of Benazir and his family are located in Dhaka, Gopalganj, Madaripur, and Cox’s Bazar.

On April 18, the ACC decided to carry out an inquiry against Benazir and his family members for their allegedly illegal wealth.

Newspapers and electronic media have recently reported on Benazir and his family’s alleged amassing of illegal wealth. The reports triggered widespread criticism of Benazir Ahmed and his family members.

In a Facebook post, Benazir, however, claimed media reports about him amassing illegal wealth were false, distorted, and motivated.

On December 10, 2021, the United States declared the then IGP Benazir ineligible for entry to the country for ‘gross violations of human rights’ while serving as RAB director general.