Gias Uddin Al Mamun's Interrogation Report
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September 2, 2008 . Filed under:
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Gias Uddin Al Mamun, controversial businessman, said to be close associate of Tareq Rahman, spills the beans on various prominent corrupt persons during interrogation sessions with the authorities
A PROBE report
Mohammed Gias Uddin Al Mamun, the controversial businessman known for his alleged close links with BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tareq Rahman, has been arrested. He has been interrogated exhaustively on several heads. The interrogation has yield significant information on various issues. The main information that came to light through the interrogations are as follows:
A. BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tareq Rahman's involvement with Mamun.
1. Tareq Rahman and Gias Uddin Al Mamun became good friends while studying together in Residential Model College in Dhaka. They passed their HSC together from that college in 1985.
2. After completing college, Gias Uddin Al Mamum would look after his father's business, a medicine pharmacy. But within a short time, he managed to establish his own towel factory and textile mill. His connections with Begum Zia and Tareq Zia reportedly helped him suddenly rise in life.
3. There was no looking back. He gradually became partners with Tareq Rahman, Arafat Rahman in their shipping, textile, garment and other businesses.
4. After the 2001 election, Tareq Rahman took responsibility of Hawa Bhaban and took up politics full time. A new sphere of power was formed and opportunists flocked there. As a result, Tareq and Mamun mixed with each other less frequently. Mamun was absorbed fully in the business. But their friendship remained as strong as ever and Mamun at times would provide Tareq with money for his expenses.
B. Mamun's statement on Tareq
1. In his statement Mamun said that he did not know of any investment made by Tareq abroad. He said that after the 2001 election, Tareq Rahman remained away from business involvements because of his full-time involvement in politics. However, behind the scenes, he would support Mamun in his business and in securing commissions. In exchange, Mamun would provide Tareq with money for his personal expenses. And a large percentage of the money illegally earned by Mamun, using his links with Tareq, sent to Tareq for his personal and political expenses.
2. After Tareq Rahman took over Hawa Bhaban, known to be the centre of power, he began to meet with people of all ilks. These people would take favours from Tareq. Mamun said, in exchange Tareq would get monetary payments for them and use them for various business purposes. Prominent among these persons were Obaidul Karim, Chairman of Orion Group; Ahmed Akbar Sohban (Shah Alam), proprietor of Basundhara Group; and Anis Ahmed (Gorky), the Bangladesh agent of Gillette Group and proprietor of Radio Furti. These three persons made vast fortunes through their connection with Tareq. They would get large government projects. Then there was Amin Ahmed Bhuiyan, the owner of Al Amin Constructions, who would pay Tareq Rahman 25,000 taka monthly for his personal expenses. It had been arranged for the money to be paid through former Communications Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda. As a close associate of the minister, Amin Ahmed won the contracts for the lease of the Meghna-Gomti Toll Plaza, the lease of the Bhairab Bridge Toll Plaza, Rupsha Bridge Toll Plaza and construction work of most of the bridges and culverts under the ministry. With the support of Tareq Rahman and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, Anis Ahmed (Gorky) managed to gain control of most of the cable TV business in the country. He also got permission for the private radio channel, Radio Furti. Mamun also revealed close contacts between Tareq and Silver Selim (former MP), Riaz Uddin Al Mamun, garments businessman Nasir Uddin and Nesar Ahmed.
3. Obaidul Karim, Shah Alam and Anis Ahmed (Gorky) have many business involvements abroad. Tareq Rahman visited Singapore, Malaysia and several other countries with them many times. Mamun said that if Tareq had any businesses abroad, then these three persons were likely to know about these investments. Also, the former Political Secretary of the Prime Minister, Mosaddek Ali Falu, and Haris Chowdhury, had houses and business set-ups in Malaysia, so they would know about these matters. And in Malaysia the local BNP President Badlur Rahman, Tareq Rahman's brother-in-law Mahbub who would previously work in the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia, and his PS Apu were always with him, said Mamun. According to Mamun, Tareq Rahman visited Malaysia 15 to 20 times.
4. Mamun and Tareq went to Malaysia only once together and their families were with them at the time. They had simply gone on a holiday and no business was involved then.
5. Babar had business in Singapore from way back and Tareq went with him there several times. Babar also accompanied him on visits to Dubai and America. Babar is likely to know if Tareq has business in those countries.
6. A certain businessman in Dubai, Mahtab Uddin, is a close friend of former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and his business partner too. This Mahtab Uddin was a close friend of Hussain Muhammed Ershad and it was through him that Babar and Tareq endeavoured to bring Ershad into the four-party fold. Additionally, Babar, Ali Asghar Lobby and Arafat Rahman were paid huge bribes for the Dubai-based Warid Telecom to get its licence in Bangladesh.
C. Mamun's statement on Arafat Rahman (Koko)
In 1988/89 Arafat Rahman (Koko) went to Australia to study and then, upon return, left against for America to train as a pilot. While he was away, Tareq Rahman, Gias Uddin Al Mamun and Maj. (retd) Syed Iskander began a launch (ferry) business under the name of Navigation. They named the vessels after Koko (Arafat's nickname). Upon his return in 1995, Arafat became a partner in this business and began getting commissions from government projects. As he had no political involvements, he concentrated on making money. He has shares in Navigation, in the garments industry, textiles, an advertisement firm and other establishments in his own name and under other names. From 2001, all the billboards along the road from Zia International Airport to Hotel Sonargaon reportedly came under control of his advertising agency Advance Ad Firm. Arafat Rahman has shares in several of Mosaddek Ali Falu's companies. There are allegations that he took commissions from many projects including the New Mooring Container Terminal, the ICD Port at Kamalapur, the machine readable passport project, etc. He reportedly also had control over the ticket money and gate money of international cricket matches through his friends as the Chairman of Bangladesh Cricket Control Board. By virtue of his friendship with the son of Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra, Thai Airways was given the contract to run Chittagong's Shah Amanat Airport. Arafat Rahman reportedly got a share of the profits. During the rule of the four-party alliance, all projects of the Telecommunications Ministry and the Shipping Ministry were controlled by Arafat Rahman, former Finance Minister Saifur Rahman's son Babu and former Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain's son Simon.
D. Mamun's statements on others
1. Mosaddek Ali Falu, Political Secretary to the former Prime Minister. Falu got the job as former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's PS through his cousin Mirza Abbas. He then gradually became owner of various industries, a newspaper and TV channels. He had a large flat in Shahjahanpur and a house in Old DOHS. He has an industry in Malaysia and a villa by the beach in Dubai. He and his wife are also major shareholders in IFIC, City Bank and several other banks. He supposedly has a business empire worth over a thousand crore taka. Falu would manage the party account and would take cuts from the commissions of the ministers of various ministries for the party fund. He owns a pre-fabricated material factory in Malaysia by the name of Bill Trade Int.
2. Haris Chowdhury, Political Secretary to the former Prime Minister. This extremely corrupt person would take bribes from government officials whose transfers would need approval of the Prime Minister's Office. He took a percentage from all big government projects. He has six flats in Malaysia along with his business partner Fakir Mahbub Anam. He has a house and a bank account in England too. He used his influence to purchase the house in which he was living as the PM's Political Secretary for eight crore taka.
3. Mirza Abbas, former Minister for Public Works and Housing. While in charge of the Public Works and Housing Ministry, he made a vast amount of money by leasing out government khaas land at a negligible price to his business partner and one of the directors of Baishakhi Television Bulu. Later he had a falling out with Bulu over the sharing of this money and the matter went to the courts. He used his people to gain contracts on all of RAJUK's landfill works. He would collect toll through his brother Mirza Khokan, as President of the Dhaka Transport Association, and Gaeswar. He also allocated 29 government houses to various persons for a negligible price during the rule of the last government.
4. Nazmul Huda quite openly would take commissions from various projects of his ministry. He took a large bribe from the Uttara Group from import and registration of CNG auto-rickshaws. And he would share with some others most of the allocations made for road and highway maintenance. Two contractors, Engineer Aftab and Zahir were his collaborators in corruption. Aftab was the son-in-law of the Chairman of Monaem Ltd. He took bribes to award his favoured person the contracts for collecting toll at various bridges. For example, he gave the contract to collect toll from the Pakshi Bridge in Khulna and the Meghna Bridge in Daudkandi to Obaidul Karim of Orion Group. In return, Obaidul Karim would pay Tareq Rahman, through Gias Uddin Al Mamun, 25 lac taka per month. Nazmul Huda is said to have made arrangements for such transactions.
5. Mir Nasir Hossain, former Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism. Mir Nasir Hossain is extremely corrupt. He gained huge commissions by handing over the operation of Chittagong's Shah Amanat Airport to Thai Airways and the management of Foy's Lake to Concord Group. He was also involved in smuggling of narcotics and gold through Chittagong Airport.
6. Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, former State Minister for Energy. Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku misappropriated a huge sum of money from the funds allocated for power distribution and maintenance of power stations. However, he could not make much on the big projects of the power sector as other senior minister's were involved.
7. Dhaka City Mayor Sadeq Hossain Khoka. After becoming Mayor, Sadeq Hossain Khoka took commissions on all the projects of the Dhaka City Corporation. He is known as Mr. 20% in the City Corporation area. He allegedly resorted to irregularities in allocating shops. He took a large sum of money in exchange of handing over the Banani multi-storeyed super market to Borak Real Estate. He took 20 crore taka from the Belhasa Group for the contract of the Jatrabari Flyover Project. He took commission from the various projects of the City Centre Project constructed under initiative of the City Corporation in Motijheel. Sadeq Hossain Khoka would get toll from the Saidabad bus terminal through the local BNP leader Nabiullah Nabi. This led to a falling out between Khoka and party MP of the same area, Salahuddin. Salahuddin Ahmed claims that Khoka was behind the public uprising against him in Shanir Akhra regarding the power crisis. It is learnt that a certain Ashiq, a trusted officer of Sadeq Hossain Khoka, was probably instrumental in all of Khoka's shady dealings at the city corporation. Mamun said that as far as he knew, Sadeq Hossain Khoka was a shareholder in Bangla Vision TV, a member of Dhaka Stock Exchange, owner of a sponge iron factory and owner of an electrical pole manufacturing company. If questioned, Khoka's former APS Mannan will be able to reveal more about his corruption.
8. Former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar. Lutfozzaman Babar would call Raushan Ershad, wife of former President HM Ershad, 'mother'. He would formerly have a Casio watch business in Uttara Bank building. He was even allegedly involved in international smuggling. After he was elected MP in 1992, Babar met Mamun and Tareq. While in charge of the Home Ministry during the last government's rule, he collected large sums of money on various purchases and procurements of the ministry as well as from transfers and appointments. He amassed a large amount of wealth. Dr. Firoz, as a Hawa Bhaban representative, was involved with him in all this. When Lutfozzaman Babar, Silver Selim and Maj. (retd.) Kamrul tried to collect 36 thousand taka extra from each person being sent to Malaysia on employment, the Malaysian government learnt of this and stopped importing manpower from Bangladesh.
9. Md. Abdul Hakim Selim alias Silver Selim. Silver Selim was an MP from Bagerhat. He has shipping business, manpower business and oil tanker business. He was very close to Mosaddek Ali Falu. He would pay about four lac taka monthly to Hawa Bhaban for expenses. He would accompany Tareq Rahman on his trips abroad.
10. Dr. Khandakar Musharraf Hossain, former Health Minister. He took commission on all projects under him. Dr. Zahid Hossain of DAB was his collaborator in these activities.
11. Former State Minister for Education Ahsanul Huq Milon. There are allegations of taking money for the appointment of primary school teachers. He reportedly had a weakness for women. He was very close to Tareq. He is also said to have been involved with Babar in taking money for appointing people to the police force. He reportedly took a commission from Biman's ticket sales in New York.
12. Former State Minister for Mineral Resources AKM Musharraf Hossain. AKM Musharraf Hossain reportedly took a huge sum of money from the gas pipeline project while in charge of the Mineral Resources Ministry. His trusted associate Selim Bhuiyan is said to have been in league with him. A certain Wahid Selim is also supposed to have taken many facilities from the ministry.
13. ANH Akhter Hossain. This extremely corrupt official was involved in all sorts of corruption while the Power Secretary. He took commissions on all contracts carried out during his time in office. He misappropriated funds for power plant repairs and maintenance.
14. Corruption of family members of the former Finance Minister. While Saifur Rahman was Finance Minister during the 2001-2006 period, persons of his sons' choice were appointed to vital posts in the National Board of Revenue and the Customs Department. The minister's younger son Babu made a huge sum of money by awarding a Chinese company the contract for T&T's mobile phone project. The T&T Chairman helped him in this. Babu, along with son of former Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain, would take commission on various projects of the Shipping Ministry. During the last government, Saifur Rahman's son Babu and his brother-in-law established a C&F firm and forced all big imports to come through that firm. Obaidul Karim, Chairman of Orion Group, paid Saifur Rahman's son and daughter each five crore taka to get the contracts for the Meghnaghat 450 MW power plant and the Jatrabari flyover.
15. Obaidul Karim, owner of Orion Group. Due to good relations with BNP's policymakers, Obaidul Karim faced much harassment in his business at the hands of the Awami League government from 1996 to 2001. When BNP came to power in 2001, he was given the contracts of two big projects. One was the Meghnaghat power plant and the other was the Jatrabari flyover project. He is said to have paid huge bribes high up in the government to get these contracts. He also got the contract for constructing the City Centre in Motijheel under the City Corporation. He even got interest on the loans he took from banks exempted after 2001. He got work on various projects such as extension of Hotel Sonargaon, lease of Bangladesh China Friendship Centre, etc. But he would complain that he would have to spend massive amounts to get government work.
An open letter to Khaleda Zia Engr. Md. Aminul Hoque, Khalishpur, Khulna
I wrote an open letter to you which was published in this paper on 11 December, 2006. I am writing this open letter to you to express my views and feelings about the post general election situation.
There was a common belief that your party i.e. BNP would lose the December 2008 election, but the election outcome was a shocking surprise to many. People were expecting a balanced parliament so that no party could boast that people gave them a free-to-do-anything mandate. But unfortunately, thing happened that way and probably this is one of the demerits of democracy.
Anyway, it seems that you and your party have succeeded in digesting this humiliating defeat and are now going to reform the party. In this respect I would like you to consider the following facts that may help BNP to regain its lost strength and image. It is for democracy and the country that we need a strong opposition in the parliament.
The day you decided to appoint your elder son Tareq Zia as the Senior Joint Secretary of BNP, you also sowed the seeds of internal rivalry in the party that finally surfaced through the reform effort under the leadership of former Secretary General Mannan Bhuiya, who very reasonably believed that Tareq Zia was going to replace him. While your party was in power during 2001-6, you did not take any action against the widely known misdeeds of Hawa Bhavan where your son Tareq Zia was the C-in-C. People were referring to him as Mr. ten percent. You have closed down Hawa Bhavan, the alternate power control centre, but it is too late.
AL Chief Sheikh Hasina took a clever decision by punishing the reformers but keeping them in the party. But you did not take any step to unite the BNP when it was needed very badly for the national election for which your opponent was in a far better position.
It is good news that at last you are also thinking of bringing young and dynamic leadership at the helm. The BNP needs a young, dynamic and an impressive personality for the position of Secretary General. Also please elect other leaders following democratic processes. People do not make mistake in giving their verdict in an election and will do the same in future. So, please learn from your mistakes. Keep those around you who have the courage to differ with you and tell you the truth. Above all, please do not forget the day of final judgement.
