The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a case against a former aide to ex-state minister for religious affairs M Shahjahan Miah for allegedly amassing illegal wealth worth over Tk1crore.
ACC deputy director KM Mejbah Uddin filed the case with Ramna police station after an inquiry found that ex-assistant personal secretary (APS) Soumendra Lal Chandra Shoilen earned huge sums of money through irregular means during his four years of service with the former state minister.
According to the case statement, in addition to his legal earnings, the ACC found Soumendra made an extra Tk11,185,639 illegally during his service period from 2009 to 2013.
The statement says the former APS used to earn Tk2.39lakh annually from his salary and other benefits, which should come to a total of Tk11.76lakh in four years. However, the inquiry revealed that Shoilen made around Tk1.18crore over four years, leading investigators to suspect that he earned the money illegally.
After analysing Soumendra’s income tax statement for 2013-14, the ACC found that his net income was around Tk31lakh, while he had deposits with several banks, including over Tk64lakh at Sonali Bank, over Tk3lakh at Mercantile Bank and over Tk4lakh at Premier Bank.
Soumendra, who is also the office secretary of the ruling party’s Patuakhali unit, has built a five-storey building in the town, while his wife owns several flats in Dhaka, the case statement says.
The ACC initially began investigating the former APS for allegedly taking Tk50crore in bribes for issuing licences to nearly 400 Hajj and umrah agents.
When Soumendra worked for Shahjahan Miah, the religious affairs ministry approved at least 400 licences for several new companies, allegedly in exchange for hefty kickbacks. The then APS reportedly was the key player in the bribery scam. There are also allegations that the former APS smuggled huge amounts of money to India using his mother and siblings.
