The Anti-Corruption Commission filed two separate cases against the former mayor of Rajshahi鈥檚 Bagha municipality on charges of embezzling public money.
Md Borhan Uddin, assistant director of ACC Rajshahi district integrated office, filed the cases on Sunday against former mayor Akkas Ali, also a member of Rajshahi district Awami League, and two others.
According to the statement of the first case, during the tenure of Akkas Ali, the municipality leased its CNG, tempu and taxi stand to the highest bidder, Mainul Islam on a temporary basis for one year from Baishakh to Chaitra of Bengali year of 1423 in exchange for Tk 39.99 lakh.
As per the Article 3.4 of the 鈥楶olicies relating to the Management, Leasing and Distribution of Revenues of Government Markets, 2011鈥�, the bidder needs to deposit the full amount of accepted bid, including VAT and income tax, to the specified fund of the government within seven working days of the notification. Otherwise, the tender would be canceled along with security money and a re-tender would be called.
鈥楢kkas Ali, however, allowed Mainul Islam to collect tolls from the CNG stand although the latter paid only Tk聽29.50 lakh against the bid鈥�, the case statement read, adding that the official documents show that Akkas and Mainul embezzled the rest of the bid鈥檚 Tk聽10.49 lakh, instead of depositing it to the government treasury.
According to the statement of the second case, Akkas Ali and former Bagha municipal executive officer Liakat Ali collected Tk聽11.55 lakh of income tax and VAT against 78 development projects worth of Tk聽2.66 crore during the fiscal years of 2015-16 and 2016-17. But they did not deposit them in the government treasury and embezzled them.
Akkas, Mainul, and Liakat could not be reached for their comments despite repeated attempts over the phone.