Controversial business tycoon and alleged arms trader Moosa Bin Shamsher appeared at the Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters yesterday two hours before schedule in all royalty.
He came in a Mercedes Benz blue edition SUV with an army of 25 bodyguards – all wearing black suits and sunglasses – in six micro-buses. Of them, four were women.
The businessman, labelled by many as “Prince Moosa,” was possibly wearing his much-talked-about diamond-plaque shoes and wrist watch.
Moosa entered the ACC’s Segunbagicha office flanked by two of the female guards while 10 other male guards waited outside the main gate until he came out around 1pm following interrogation over his alleged involvement in money laundering and amassing illegal wealth.
Emerging from the session, conducted by Senior Deputy Director Mir Zainul Abedin Shibli from 9:45am to 1pm, he faced the media and brushed aside the allegations terming those “baseless.”
“I came here to face the ACC being respectful to the law...As the commission has started its inquiry against me, I will help them by providing all related documents from time to time whenever they ask me for them,” he said.
Terming media reports on him “fabricated,” Moosa said: “Newspaper reports cannot be the main source of investigation.
“I have a huge contribution in this country’s manpower exports. Ask your guardians; you will have a clear idea about my role.”
Moosa is the chairman of Datco, a manpower recruiting agency, located in Banani.
The ACC took the decision of running the inquiry on November 3 following a cover feature published in Business Asia, an international magazine, in June this year.
An ACC official seeking anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune that during the interrogation, the inquiry officer had asked Moosa about the source of his wealth and the $7bn (over Tk54,000 crore) left frozen at the Swiss Bank for the last five years.
The amount was frozen because of irregular transactions. Moosa has filed a case to recover the amount from the bank, the official said.
Asked about the allegations, Moosa said: “The huge amount of money was not earned while staying in this country. So it is not possible to launder that amount from this country.”
Moosa said: “No one will be able to earn the amount in the next 50 years which I have made throughout my life. Every story has a history.”
As early as in 1998, the Sunday Telegraph Magazine published an exclusive feature titled “Man with the Golden Guns” terming Moosa “Prince of Bangladesh.” Reporter Nigel Farndale wrote: “Prince Moosa, the multi billionaire from Bangladesh, bathes in rose water, wears diamond encrusted shoes and doesn’t like to talk about the offer of 5m pound sterling he once made to Tony Blair.” However, Blair reportedly rejected his proposal.
Business Pundit in 2011 showed Moosa as one of the most notorious arms dealers in modern history where he ranked eighth. In 2007, a renowned Malta-based CA firm’s audit report stated that Moosa had made $10bn, mostly from the international arms trading by selling tanks, fighter planes and ballistic missiles as well as from power brokerage that he had carried outside Bangladesh.
Moosa told reporters that after the inquiry it would be found that he was not a money launderer.
The ACC earlier initiated inquiries against him in 2010 and 2011 following newspaper reports. The first inquiry officer could not work due to poor health while the second officer failed to make any progress as he had not got required information from the Bangladesh Bank’s financial unit, an ACC source told the Dhaka Tribune.
Senior Deputy Director Shibli is the third inquiry officer in this matter.
Moosa also told reporters that he was interested to do something for the country’s development.
“The Padma bridge project needs $3bn to complete. Not only I hope to finance the project, I also want to do something for the country’s government employees, teachers and elderly people.”
After talking to the reporters, Moosa left the premises in the same manner he arrived.
An official told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission would ask the central bank and the National Board of Revenue for information on Moosa’s bank accounts and tax returns.
