The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to file a case against former Jatiya Party (JaPa) secretary general Moshiur Rahman Ranga and the party’s nominated candidate for the Kurigram-2 parliamentary constituency Ponir Uddin Ahmed over allegations of nomination trading in the 12th national parliamentary election.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain disclosed the decision at a briefing on Monday.
According to the ACC, former State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives, Jatiya Party’s former secretary general Moshiur Rahman Ranga took Tk1.70 crore in bribes from Ponir Uddin Ahmed, a former MP from Kurigram-2, in exchange for facilitating his participation in the 12th parliamentary election.
The ACC said Panir Uddin Ahmed is the proprietor of M/S Jalil Biri Factory and Haq Special, a transport business.
On 30 October 2018, Tk20 lakh was transferred from a Haq Special account operating out of Islami Bank Bangladesh’s Kurigram branch, to Ranga’s account at the bank’s Rangpur branch.
In addition, Ponir Uddin Ahmed deposited Tk 1.50 crore in four installments in November 2018 from Sonali Bank’s Kurigram branch to Ranga’s account at Sonali Bank’s Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban branch. In total, Tk 1.70 crore was paid in bribes.
The concealment of money through transfer, conversion and transactions constitutes punishable offences under Sections 161, 165 and 109 of the Penal Code, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.
Following information about suspicious assets linked to Moshiur Rahman Ranga, the ACC decided to issue a notice under Section 26(1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004, requiring him to submit a statement of assets.
Akhtar Hossain said Ponir Uddin Ahmed has also been named as an accused in the case for paying the bribes.
He added that the ACC is examining whether nomination trading is taking place in the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election.
