Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court on Thursday issued international travel bans on eight people, including Union Bank managing director ABM Mokammel Hoque Chowdhury, former Taxes Appellate Tribunal member Ranjit Kumar Talukder and his wife Jhumur Majumder over allegations of amassing illegal wealth.
The other five are former Awami League lawmaker Habib Hasan of Dhaka-18 constituency, his wife Shamima Habib, their son Abeer Hasan Tanim and daughter Sonia Hasan Tonni, and former Jatiya Party lawmaker Md Nurul Islam Talukder.
Acting Judge Md Ibrahim Mia of the court issued the travel bans following separate petitions submitted by the Anti-Corruption Commission, said ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir.
ACC in the petitions sought travel bans on them for the sake of fair inquiry, and it also mentioned that they may flee the country if the bans are not issued.
The court issued a travel ban on ABM Mokammel Hoque Chowdhury following a petition submitted by ACC deputy director Masudur Rahman seeking.
According to the petition, Mokammel was abusing the power of his post during the laundering of Tk聽5,000 crore to Barclays Bank in the United Kingdom by family members of the S Alam group.
It also mentioned that Mokammel amassed a huge amount of wealth at home and abroad through abusing power and corruption.
Besides, the court issued a travel ban on former Taxes Appellate Tribunal member Ranjit Kumar Talukder and his wife Jhumur Majumder following a petition submitted by ACC assistant director Khorshed Alam.
ACC mentioned in the petition that the commission is conducting an inquiry against Ranjit Kumar over allegations of amassing illegal wealth through taking bribes and embezzling money through various corruption.
Among the assets, Ranjit bought agriculture lands, flats, and plots with his ill-gotten money, while his wife Jhumur Mojumder possessed 22 fixed deposit receipts worth Tk聽3.50 crore at different branches of Bangladesh Commerce Bank.
The court also issued a travel ban on former AL lawmaker Habib Hasan, his wife, and children over an allegation of amassing illegal wealth.
According to the allegation, Habib and his family members amassed illegal wealth through extortion in the transport sector and embezzling government money.
Habib also laundered money abroad and bought property in Canada in the name of his son Abeer Hasan, according to the allegations.
Meanwhile, the court also imposed a travel ban on former Jatiya Party lawmaker Nurul Islam Talukder of Bogura-4 constituency following a petition of the ACC.
ACC mentioned that Nurul Islam embezzled money from different government development projects through abusing his power as a lawmaker.
Nurul Islam was elected as a lawmaker in the 2014 and 2018 parliament elections, but he was defeated in the last parliament election held on January 7 this year.
