After almost a year since investigations began on graft allegations against Rajshahi lawmaker Enamul Haque, the Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to not to pursue any case against the MP. The anti-graft body, however, sent its probe-related documents to the National Board of Revenue on Wednesday to look into possible tax evasion charges.
ACC Commissioner (Investigation) M Sahabuddin Chuppu told reporters that the commission decided not to file a graft case against the ruling party's Rajshahi 4 constituency lawmaker, as the ACC did not find proof into allegations of Enamul accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk217 crore.
“The inquiry officer raised some objections in his submitted probe report regarding some faults in audit reports against the MP that suggest the lawmaker had evaded tax. So, the commission sent the charges to the NBR for further inquiry about the evasion of taxes, which the lawmaker claims was his business taxes,” Chuppu said
Earlier in January, the ACC initiated its inquiry against Enamul; while probe officer Jatan Kumer Roy, an ACC deputy director, filed his report on September 16 recommending that a case be filed against Enamul for illegally accumulating Tk217 crore between 2008 and 2013.
Sources said two ACC commissioners – Chuppu and Nasiruddin Ahmed – took opposing stance about the report, with the former being in favour of not pursuing a case against the Rajshahi MP. However, the final decision was made by ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman, who decided not to pursue the graft charges but to send the files to the NBR.
Asked about the opposing stance within the ACC regarding the charges, Chuppu said: “Any commission-related matter is mutually decided by the [ACC] chairman and two commissioners. But when the file of lawmaker Enamul came to me, I saw that the inquiry officer's recommendation for case filing was only regarding tax evasion – which is not the ACC's subject to investigate and the MP himself and his company are two separate entities. So, the commission decided to stop pursuing a case after finding no proof of illegal accumulation of wealth.
“As there are some audit objections from the inquiry officer about Enamul's company's tax evasion, the commission had decided to send the charges to the NBR.” Chuppu added.
Following media reports in January on phenomenal rises in wealth of MPs, the ACC launched inquiries against three former minister and four parliament members, including Enamul. However, so far, the commission has decided not to file any case against three of them, including two incumbent MPs and a former minister.