The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday said that there was no bar on inquiry against the leaders and activists of the Students Against Discrimination if specific allegations of amassing illegal wealth were found against them.
The commission on the day also filed a case against a former lawmaker for Dhaka-16 constituency, Elias Uddin Molla, and three former and present officials of the National Housing Authority for their alleged involvement in embezzling Tk 37.44 crore.
鈥業f there are specific allegations of amassing illegal wealth against the leaders and activists of the Students Against Discrimination, recently arrested in an extortion case, there is no bar on inquiry against them,鈥� said ACC director general Md Akhter Hossain.
Responding to a question from a journalist at the ACC headquarters, he said, 鈥極ffences related to extortion are not within the jurisdiction of the commission. But, if anyone acquires wealth beyond his or her known sources of income, we can investigate it as it is within our jurisdiction.鈥�
Five individuals, including four leaders of the Students Against Discrimination, were arrested at the house of Awami League leader and former lawmaker Shammi Ahmed in the capital鈥檚 Gulshan area in a case of extortion.
It was reported that the wealth of some of the arrestees had increased significantly, prompting questions about whether this falls under the commission鈥檚 jurisdiction.
The commission on Monday filed a case against former lawmaker Elias Uddin Molla and three former and present officials of the National Housing Authority for their alleged involvement in embezzling Tk 37.44 crore as rent, keeping position on the government land forcefully for the past 16 years.
The other accused in the case are former NHA (Dhaka Division-1) executive engineer Md Nurul Islam, who went on retirement as an additional chief engineer, the authority鈥檚 present member for Engineering and Coordination Wing Kazi Md Abu Hanif and former sub-divisional engineer (Dhaka Circle) and present superintendent engineer Md Harizur Rahman.
According to the case details, the accused officials helped former lawmaker Elias Molla to keep the government land in his possession illegally.
The main accused Elias Molla embezzled Tk 37.34 crore by collecting rent from the illegal establishments on seven acres of land at Mirpur Jheelpar area for the past 16 years.
The NHA officials misused their power and illegally helped the former lawmaker and tried to protect him, defying government orders, the ACC official said.