Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi has said he will resign from his parliamentary post if graft allegation, now being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission, are found to be true.
Badi, who was elected Cox’s Bazar 4 constituency in the tenth parliamentary elections, made the announcement to newsmen after coming out of ACC headquarter, where he was summoned for questioning, at the capital’s Segunbagicha yesterday.
Refuting the allegations, the lawmaker said all the allegation against him are baseless and incorrect and was intended to harm his political image.
“If you can prove that I have laundered a single penny, or I have concealed wealth information on my election affidavit, I will resign from the parliament,” Badi said.
The ACC is now conducting an inquiry into the wealth of seven lawmakers from the ruling party, whose wealth were inconsistent with their known sources of income.
Badi also claimed his total wealth is valued Tk13.08crore, and has paid Tk3.40crore in income taxes.
“Some journalists, in collusion with the opposition party, has published negative reports against me to harm my image. The allegations are false and incorrect,” he added.
Responding to a query on how the wealth of the lawmaker witnessed significant 351 times rises, he said: “Journalists reported that my income has rose to 351 times in last five years and stood at Tk36 crore, but where is the money?,” he said.
He said his affidavit, that was placed before the Election Commission, did not have any information on the said Tk36 crore.
Badi further added that he has already filed several cases with Cox’s Bazar police station in relation to the false news reports.
“My affidavit has information on some Tk9, 19,67,056, and the money was generated from import export businesses, that is wood, dry fish and rice import businesses,” he said.
In reply to the query on how he has make these huge money in last five years, the lawmaker said he was unable to run businesses during the tenure of BNP-led alliances as at least 40-45 cases were filed against him.
“During the BNP-led opposition’s tenure, 40-45 cases was filed against me and I was unable to run my businesses. I belong to a family of businessmen and I did not whiten any black money, rather I ran by businesses and paid taxes respectively,” he told journalists.
ACC Deputy Director Ahsan Ali, who is the investigation officer of the case, grilled the lawmaker from 10:00am to 1:00pm at the ACC headquarter.
Regarding the inquiry, ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharjee said the inquiry official has cross-checked the information and allegation against the lawmaker after newspaper reports.
“If the commission thinks it needs to gather more information or quiz others, we will work in accordance with the commission instruction,” he added.
Earlier on January, Ahsan Ali went to Cox’s Bazar and visited different administrative offices and collected documents related to the MP’s wealth.
Sources said, the investigation officer also acquired the wealth statement of the lawmaker and income tax return statements of MP Badi and his wife Shahina Akhter.
Cox’s Bazar MP Badi’s earnings rose astronomically, increasing by more than 500 times over the past five years. The lawmaker’s annual income was only Tk3.01 lakh in 2008, but rose to Tk15.46 crore by 2013, according to his affidavits placed before the Election Commission.
On January 22, the ACC initiated an inquiry against seven ruling party lawmakers, including two former ministers, a state minister and four MPs, in a bid to trace the sources of their phenomenal rise in wealth.
Apart from MP Badi, the commission has also summoned former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Manna Khan for questioning over similar allegations of amassing wealth illegally.
According to the summon notice, the Awami League leader has been asked to appear before the ACC at its headquarters on February 20. ACC Deputy Director M Nasir Uddin has been assigned to investigate the graft allegations against Abdul Mannan Khan.