The Anti-Corruption Commission has failed to file any case against former president of the National Board of Revenue鈥檚 Customs, Excise, and VAT Appellate Tribunal, Matiur Rahman, over the allegations of amassing illegal wealth as the ACC could not complete its probe into allegations against him within the stipulated time.
The ACC rules allow an investigation officer a maximum of 75 days to complete an inquiry but the inquiry team led by ACC deputy director Anwar Hossain failed to complete the probe until October 28 although 143 days have elapsed since the beginning of the probe against Matiur and his family members on June 4.
The commission, on completion of a probe into allegations against anyone, files a case against the individual if it finds adequate evidence against him or her.
Officials said that the commission had already聽 found information on a huge amount of moveable and immovable assets in the names of Matiur and his family members. They also found enough evidence of amassing illegal wealth and money laundering against Matiur.
ACC director general Md Akhtar Hossain on Sunday told 抖阴精品 that the ACC inquiry was almost completed against Matiur Rahman, and the inquiry team was now conducting final scrutiny of the information the probe team had found against him.
鈥楾he ACC, based on the inquiry report, will take a decision soon in this regard,鈥� he said and added that the commission was trying its best to complete the inquiry as soon as possible.
Matiur鈥檚 second wife Shammi Akhtar and their son Mushfiqur Rahman have already left the country amid the probe, while Matiur is also reportedly trying to flee the country.
On October 20, Dhaka senior special judge court imposed an international travel ban on Matiur, his first wife Layla Kaniz, and their son Ahmed Taufiqur Rahman Arnob.
ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told 抖阴精品 that the commission sought the travel bans as Matiur and his family members were trying to flee the country.
Matiur was first exposed to public scrutiny after a video footage had gone viral on social media showing his second wife鈥檚 son, Mushfiqur Rahman Ifat, buying a goat for Tk 12 lakh ahead of Eid-ul-Azha in June.
The goat scandal involving his son brought his assets under ACC scrutiny in June of this year for the fifth time in the past two decades.
In 2004, the ACC launched the first inquiry against Matiur, while it conducted three more inquiries in 2008, 2013, and 2021 without any breakthrough.
There are allegations that the ACC officials gave Matiur clean chits in each of the four inquiries due to his influence.
Matiur could not be reached for comments even after several attempts over the phone on Sunday and Monday.
During the ongoing inquiry, the anti-corruption agency found massive movable and immovable wealth owned by Matiur and his family members in different places including Dhaka, Gazipur, Mymensingh and Narsingdi.
ACC found evidence of 3,523 decimals of land, and shares of 19 companies, and Tk 13.44 crore in 116 bank accounts and 23 beneficiary owner鈥檚 accounts.
The commission also found eight apartments in Dhaka, a multi-storey building in the capital鈥檚 Bashundhara residential area, owned by Matiur and his family members.
It was reported that Matiur and his family, using the illegal income, became owners of resorts, shooting spots, bungalows, land, and other properties.
But, in an interview with a television channel, Matiur denied the graft allegations and said that the ACC had earlier given him clean chits four times.
The government, responding to Matiur鈥檚 application, on July 31 granted his early retirement from August 28 as his 25 years in service was completed.
Before this, the finance ministry transferred him to the Internal Resources Division from the Customs, Excise & VAT Appellate Tribunal.
The government also removed Matiur from the position of a director of state-run Sonali Bank PLC in June amid graft allegations.
Matiur is from Muladi upazila in Barishal.
He joined the government job as a member of the trade cadre of the 11th batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service but later he joined the customs cadre of the 13th batch of BCS.