The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Thursday sued two former state ministers and an incumbent ruling party lawmaker in three cases on charge of amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.They are: ex-State Minister for Water Resources Mahbubur Rahman, ex-State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan and an MP from Cox’s Bazar-4 Constituency Abdur Rahman Bodi. ACC Deputy Directors Khairul Huda, Nasir Uddin and Abdus Subhan filed separate cases with the Ramna Police Station in Dhaka around 4:00pm, Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, media and public relations officer of the anti-graft body, told reporters.On receipt of information about amassing wealth by seven former and present legislators dishonestly, the ACC took it into cognizance and assigned its seven officers in January this year to look into the matter.After a prolonged investigation, the officers found the irregularities in wealth statements submitted by the three men to the Election Commission and the ACC.Not only that, the officers gathered the information of their absurdities on spot visits and other ways. According to the complaint, Mahbubur Rahman has so far been owner of 865 acres of land whereas he had 20 acres only five years ago. The value of his properties had been shown as Tk 5, 25,66,072 in the affidavit submitted during the 10th parliamentary election and Tk 36,33,112 during the 9th parliamentary election. The value of the properties of his wife had been shown as Tk 1,26,71,000 in 2013 and Tk 5, 00,000 in 2008 respectively. In 2008, his annual income was Tk 2,15,000 from a part time business. But now he earns Tk 1,50,00,000 from the fishery cultivation and the fish export. Besides, he earns Tk 20,34,700 from other means and his dependents earn Tk 95,000 income annually.As per the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission (EC), the value of wealth of Abdul Mannan Khan was quoted Tk 11 crore in 2013 where he had shown wealth of Tk 10.33 lakh in 2008. The property value of Bodi rose to Tk 2.88 crore from Tk 47.78 lakh in the last five years, according to his wealth statements submitted to the EC before the 2008 and the January 5 elections. Five years back his yearly income was only Tk 2 lakh, which increased to Tk 15 crore last year.The ACC, in its exclusive meeting on January 12, decided to enquire into the wealth and properties Prof Dr A F M Ruhal Haque, former Health and Planning Minister, Abdul Mannan Khan, former State Minister for Housing and Public Works, Mahbubur Rahman, former State Minister for Water Resources, Enamul Haque, former MP from Rajshahi Constituency-4, Abdul Zabbar, former MP from a Constituency of Satkhira, Abdur Rahman Bodi, MP from Chittagong Constituency-4 [Ukhia-Teknaf] and Aslamul Haque, MP from Dhaka Constituency-14.
