Syed Abed Ali, a former driver for the Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), came into national discussion after a media report was published recently regarding PSC question leak allegations against him.
PSC officials claimed that Syed Abed Ali lost his job at the PSC due to a question leak allegation in 2015.
“He was not very familiar with our locality, but within five or six months, he came to his village, started to construct a triplex house, and introduced himself as a candidate for the Dasar Upazila Chairman of Madaripur district in the upcoming poll,” said Meer Mamun, the panel chairman and a member of the Madaripur Zila Parishad, referring to Syed Abed Ali.
Beginning on Monday morning, several viral social media posts said that Abed Ali is roaming in the villages of Dasar Upazila in Madaripur, urging general voters to elect him chairman in the upcoming poll.
In a video, he said that he never earned any illegal money but, through hard work, has built a seven-story building and an eleven-story building in Dhaka, as well as a house in Madaripur worth Tk 3 crore.
He also mentioned in the video that he owns several hundred acres of land.
PSC question leak: Former chairman's driver Abed Ali, 16 others detainedNot only Abed Ali, but also his son, Syed Sohanur Rahman Siam, who is the Relief & Disaster Management Secretary of the Dhaka City North unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party, has a lavish lifestyle and frequently engages in relief work and welfare activities, according to their Facebook posts.
On his social media profile, Abed Ali introduced himself as the chairman of a real estate company named “USA Real Estate & Builders.”
Clicks on that Facebook page revealed that the page was Pakistan-based and not very active.
When asked about Abed Ali, an official of the PSC told Dhaka Tribune on Monday that a divisional case was filed against driver Abed Ali in 2014 for providing answers to candidates in the exam hall. After an investigation, he was dismissed from his job on September 14, 2015.
Since then, he has had no official relationship with the PSC.
However, Abed Ali's visible wealth has raised questions among the villagers of Madaripur about his sources of income.
When asked about Abed Ali, Meer Mamun said, “We have heard that he was born into a poor family and was raised by a wealthy Hindu family. Later, he moved to Dhaka and started working as a driver for the PSC after several years of struggle. Now, he is building a house, constructing a mosque, and funding mosque decorations in Dasar Upazila, which has drawn much attention among the villagers.”
Mamun added: “I have heard that last winter, he distributed blankets worth 15 to 20 lakh taka among the villagers. Sometimes, we politicians feel helpless thinking about how we will compete with them.”
Kalkini Upazila of Madaripur is adjacent to Dasar; Dasar Upazila was once part of Kalkini Upazila.
PSC's question leak: Abed Ali's son Siam expelled from Chhatra LeagueWhen asked, Toufiquzzaman Shahin, the chairman of Kalkini Upazila and General Secretary of Kalkini Upazila Awami League, said, “I have only heard of Syed Abed Ali in the last four or five months. I was not familiar with him before. He is building large houses, spending money in the locality, and displaying banners and festoons for the upcoming Upazila poll.”
When asked, local Awami League leaders of Madaripur said that Abed Ali is not involved in politics, but his son is involved in ruling party politics.
Abed Ali’s Facebook profile features a picture with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, taken at a public gathering in 1997, sources claimed.
When contacted by Dhaka Tribune, both Syed Abed Ali and his son were unavailable for comment as this report was being filed.
