The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to file a case against 10 persons, including two sons of S Alam Group Chairman Saiful Alam, on charges of evading nearly Tk75 crore in taxes.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain provided the information while addressing a press conference at ACC headquarters at Segunbagicha in the capital on Wednesday.
The accused include Saiful Alam’s sons – Ashraful Alam and Asadul Alam Mahir, former deputy tax commissioner Aminul Islam, and seven officials of First Security Islami Bank.
The accused bank officials are senior vice-president Helal Uddin, branch head Muhammad Amir Hossain, former SAVP Ahsanul Haque, former SAVP Ruhul Abedin, officer Shamima Akhter, Anis Uddin and Gazi Muhammad Yaqub.
According to the ACC, the accused committed forgery and used fake pay orders to legalise undisclosed income worth Tk50 crore while they were supposed to pay Tk125 crore in taxes.
However, they paid only Tk50 crore, resulting in a loss of Tk75 crore in government revenue.
ACC sources said three senior officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) were suspended in October last year on charges of giving undue facilities and taking bribes over tax files of businessman Saiful Alam’s two sons.
“Based on these allegations, the ACC later launched an investigation,” said ACC DG Akhter Hossain.
The ousted Awami League-led government offered an opportunity to legalise undisclosed income between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 by paying a 10 per cent tax.
According to NBR calculations, Ashraful and Asadul should have paid at least Tk125 crore in taxes against undisclosed income of Tk500 crore. Instead, they paid only Tk50 crore to whiten the money.
