The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to file a case against 35 individuals, including Saima Wazed Putul, an executive member of the Suchana Foundation, over allegations of embezzling Tk 448.94 crore in the name of the foundation.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain informed this to journalists on Monday afternoon. He stated that the investigation will name 11 trustees of the Suchana Foundation, eight business owners, and 16 officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) as accused.
The ACC Director General mentioned that the business owners made donations to the Suchana Foundation and illegally availed tax exemptions. They were assisted in this by 16 officials from the National Revenue Division, including former Chairman Najibur Rahman.
Among the 11 individuals from the Suchana Foundation are Professor Mazharul Mannan, chairman and trustee of the Suchana Foundation; Pran Gopal Datta, vice chairman; Trustee Nazmul Hasan Papan; Saifullah Abdullah Solenghi; Jan Bari Rizvi; Treasurer Shamsuzzaman; Executive Committee member and former MP Professor Ruhul Haque; Shirin Zaman Munir; MS Mehraz Jahan; and Helal Uddin Ahmed.
The business owners include Enthekhabul Hamid, Chairman of Hamid Real Estate; Nurul Islam, former chairman of Sanowara group and former Minister; Salman F Rahman, chairman of Beximco Group and adviser to the former prime minister for private industry and investment; Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group; AKM Rahmatullah, chairman of Apex Properties Development Limited and former MP; Moin Uddin Hasan Rashid, chairman of United Group; Mostafa Kamal, chairman of Meghna Group; and Enayetur Rahman, chairman of Buildtrade Engineering Ltd and private television channel Nine.
The 16 NBR officials accused of illegally providing tax benefits include former Chairman Najibur Rahman; former Member Mir Mustaq Ali; Chowdhury Amir Hossain; Parvez Iqbal; Farid Uddin; Firoz Shah Alam; Barrister Jahangir Hossain; Mahbubur Rahman; Lokman Chowdhury; Rezaul Hasan; Zia Uddin Mahmud; Abdur Razzak; AFM Shahriar Molla; Sultan M Iqbal; Tandra Sikdar; and Kalipada Halder.
