More than one year has passed but the Anti-Corruption Commission has failed to complete its inquiry into allegations of amassing massive illegal wealth and laundering money abroad against former army chief General Aziz Ahmed.
Despite the passage of one year since the inquiry was initiated, the probe is yet to be completed due to alleged negligence by the officials concerned of the commission.
As per the ACC rules, an officer gets a maximum of 75 days to complete an inquiry and 270 days to complete an investigation.
However, the pending inquiry has surpassed its completion deadline while no visible progress has been made so far in the probe against the retired army general.
The commission on September 3, 2024 decided to聽 carry out an inquiry into the allegations of amassing massive illegal wealth against General Aziz.
The commission, on completion of a probe into allegations against a corruption suspect, files a case against them if adequate evidence has been found.
Experts say that failure to complete the inquiries in due time would let corruption suspects find ways out of the ACC net, limiting the commission鈥檚 scope to lay claim on the wealth they have gained allegedly by illegal means.
Refusing the allegations of negligence, ACC deputy director for public relations Md Aktarul Islam said, 鈥榃e are sincerely conducting the probe into the allegations against him and hope to complete the inquiry soon.鈥�
鈥榃e would take legal action against him based on the inquiry reports and after the approval of the commission,鈥� he added.
A four-member team led by ACC deputy director Md Zakaria is conducting the inquiry into the allegation.
鈥榃e are trying to complete the inquiry as soon as possible and the report would be submitted soon to the commission,鈥� said a member of the enquiry tem on Saturday.
According to the allegations, Aziz Ahmed has several houses, including in DOHS (Defence Officers鈥� Housing Society) at Mirpur and Nikunja in Dhaka.
He also allegedly purchased houses and several hundred bighas of land in the names of his younger brothers, including Tofayel Ahmed, in Dhaka.
Aziz also laundered money through hundi and banking channels for business purposes and purchasing properties in Malaysia, Singapore, and Dubai, according to commission officials.
Aziz鈥檚 corruption issue came to the fore after the United States imposed sanctions on Aziz Ahmed and his immediate family members on May 21, 2024 citing his alleged involvement in serious corruption.
Aziz served as the chief of army staff from June 2018 to June 2021 and also led the Border Guard Bangladesh from 2012 to 2016.
Aziz, the eldest among five brothers, had siblings who made headlines for criminal activities such as murder, extortion, and illegal possession of firearms during the 1990s and 2000s.
Aziz鈥檚 brother Tofayel Ahmed, alias Joseph, in particular, was implicated in 10 cases related to extortion and illegal firearms possession.
In 2004, Joseph was sentenced to death while two other brothers, Haris Ahmed and Anis Ahmed, were sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case.
The spotlight intensified on Aziz Ahmed when Joseph was granted clemency by the president in the murder case in 2018, followed by similar actions for Haris and Anis in 2019.
An Al-Jazeera documentary titled 鈥楢ll the prime minister鈥檚 men,鈥� aired on February 1, 2021, alleged that Aziz misused his influence to secure contracts for his convicted brothers.
