The Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday approved a case against 10 people including S Alam group chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam鈥檚 two sons, Ashraful Alam and Asadul Alam Mahir, for their alleged involvement in evading taxes worth Tk 75 crore.
The commission also approved a case against former Bangladesh Hockey Federation vice-president Shafiullah Al Munir for amassing illegal assets worth Tk 10.95 crore.
The anti-graft body also approved another case against 10 people including West Apparels Limited chairman ASM Abdullah for embezzling Tk 102 crore.
ACC director general Md Akhtar Hossain said that the commission approved a case against 10 people, including two sons of S Alam group chairman Saiful Alam, on charges of dodging tax of Tk 75 crore.
The other accused are former deputy tax commissioner Aminul Islam and seven officials of First Security Islami Bank, including its senior vice president Md Helal Uddin, branch head Muhammad Amir Hossain, former SVPs Md Ahsanul Haque and Ruhul Abedin, and officials Shamima Akhter, Md Anis Uddin, and Gazi Muhammad Yaqub.
According to ACC findings, Ashraful Alam and Asadul Alam Mahir were supposed to pay Tk 125 crore in taxes to legalise Tk 500 crore of undisclosed money but the accused in collusion with other accused paid only Tk 50 crore, causing a loss of revenue of Tk 75 crore to the government.
In October last year, three senior officials of the National Board of Revenue were suspended for allegedly granting undue benefits and taking bribes in relation to the tax files of Saiful Alam鈥檚 sons. The ACC later launched an inquiry based on those allegations.
The then Awami League-led government had allowed undisclosed wealth to be legalised between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, upon payment of 10 per cent tax.
NBR data showed that at a 25 per cent maximum personal tax rate, Ashraful and Asadul should have paid Tk 125 crore on their Tk 500 crore undeclared assets. Instead, they paid only Tk 50 crore to whiten the money.
The ACC approved another case against Bangladesh Hockey Federation鈥檚 former vice president Shafiullah Al Munir on charges of amassing illegal assets worth Tk 10.95 crore.
The commission, during an inquiry, found his total assets worth Tk 11.44 crore but his legal sources of income against the assets was only Tk 49.78 lakh.
It also approved another case against West Apparels Limited chairman ASM Abdullah and nine others on charges of embezzling Tk 102 crore.
The commission, during its inquiry, found that the accused in collusion with each other took Tk 35.37 crore from Primer Bank鈥檚 Narayanganj branch by opening Letter of Credits showing 15 fake sales contracts.
They also took Tk 66.70 crore more from the bank by issuing back to back LCs in favor of the client by providing additional loan facilities.
The other accused in the case are West Apparels managing director Asif Hasan Mahmood, former managing director Rockshan Ara Ahmed, directors Moshiur Rahman, Mirza M Anisur Rahman, Premier Bank鈥檚 additional managing director Shahid Hasan Mallik, vice president Moshfiqul Alam,聽senior assistant vice president Dipak Kumar Debonath, senior assistant vice-president Mohammad Mehedi Hasan Sarker, and聽former assistant vice president Mahmud Mostafa Jilani.