The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC has been given six days to grill expelled Jubo League Ismail Chowdhury Samrat for possession of illegal wealth.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge KM Imrul Kayes passed the remand order on Sunday after the anti-graft agency sought seven days’ custody to question Samrat.
ACC Deputy Director Md Jahangir started the case involving the illegal acquisition of over Tk 20 million by Samrat on Nov 12. Challenging the remand order, Samrat’s lawyer Afroza Shahnaz Parvin Hira said, “He wasn’t given an opportunity to submit a wealth statement as per the ACC’s rules nor was he given any notice in this regard. Therefore, both the case and the remand order are illegal.”
According to the case, Samrat bought plots in Dhaka’s Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Uttara, among others, with his ill-gotten wealth. He also has assets worth around Tk 10 billion in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and the United States.
The ACC has also started a case against Samrat’s close aide Enamul Hoque Arman, who is charged with amassing over Tk 20 million illegally.
Samrat, the former president of Jubo League’s Dhaka South unit, came under the scanner over his alleged ties to the illegal gambling business after the Rapid Action Battalion busted casino operations in numerous clubs in the capital in September.
He subsequently went into hiding before being arrested along with Arman in Cumilla on October 6.
The RAB later conducted a raid on Samrat’s office in Kakrail’s Bhuiyan Trade Centre with him in tow.
They subsequently recovered a foreign pistol, 1,160 yaba tablets, 19 bottles of foreign liquor, two kangaroo hides and ‘electrical torture equipment.’
A mobile court handed Samrat a six-month prison sentence for possession of the kangaroo skins under the Wild Animal Protection Act and he was later sent to the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.
Two cases were also filed against him under the Narcotics Control Act and Arms Act with the Ramna Police Station.
A court granted 10 days to grill Samrat in two separate cases involving illegal arms and drugs On Oct 15. Arman has been placed on a five-day remand in an arms case.
