Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, who was the defence and security adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and his wife Shaheen Siddique did not appear at the Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday, disregarding its summon.
Meanwhile, in an order issued on the day, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court asked the ACC to seize plots and a building worth around Tk 15 crore belonging to Tarique Ahmed Siddique and his brother Shafique Ahmed Siddique.
Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Tarique Ahmed and his wife Shaheen were scheduled to appear before the commission鈥檚 inquiry team at 12 noon on the day at the commission headquarters to give a statement regarding an inquiry.
The ACC on Monday summoned Ahmed Akbar to appear at the commission over an inquiry into allegations against Tarique Ahmed Siddique of amassing illegal wealth. It also summoned Tarique Ahmed Siddique and his wife Shaheen to appear on the same day.
On June 30, a Dhaka court ordered the ACC to seize the assets of Tarique Ahmed, his wife Shaheen and daughter Nurin Siddique that include a seven-storey house and three flats in Baridhara DOHS in Dhaka city, two flats, four five-katha plots in Purbachal, and one plot in Bashundhara residential area.
Earlier, the anti-corruption commission summoned Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, his son and Bashundhara group managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir and several other members of the family to appear on May 25鈥�26 over allegations brought against them of land grabbing, money embezzlement and laundering.
They did not appear at the commission on the scheduled dates at that time also.
The Wednesday order in which Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge Md Jakir Hossain asked for the seizure of Tk 15 crore-worth properties of Tarique Ahmed and brother Shafique, also asked the authorities to appoint a receiver to supervise the properties following a plea by the ACC.
The seized properties include 17 decimals of land of Shafique Ahmed Siddique in Gazipur, 67 decimals of land of Tarique Ahmed Siddique and a 10-storey building.
The anti-corruption agency in its plea said that it was probing into allegations of amassing illegal wealth against the Siddique brothers in the process of which it learnt that they were trying to handover the properties to evade justice.
