An Anti-Corruption Commission team has found no trace of 83 per cent of income declared by former Awami League lawmaker from Dinajpur-3 constituency, Iqbalur Rahim, also a former whip of the Jatiya Sangsad, in his wealth statements.
It has found that Iqbalur鈥檚 bank accounts showed suspicious transactions involving Tk聽35.71 crore. Of the amount, Tk聽35.3 crore was withdrawn at various times.
The commission also filed a case on January 8 against Iqbalur Rahim with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 12 crore and suspicious transaction of Tk 35 crore in 24 bank accounts, said ACC director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossian.
After the fall of the Awami league government on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising, on August 28, 2024, the ACC launched the inquiry into allegations of amassing wealth worth billions of taka through corruption by Iqbalur.
The ACC in its inquiry found that Iqbalur declared Tk聽12.9 crore as his total income in wealth statements from the 2000-2001 financial year to the 2023-24 financial year.
However, the ACC did not found any trace of his income of Tk聽10.77 crore, which accounts for 83.42 per cent of his declared income.
Iqbalur claimed an income of Tk聽2.28 crore from business between the FY 2000-01 and the FY 2023-24 in his tax filings.
However, the ACC鈥檚 inquiry could not find supporting evidence of the income.
He had mentioned a tax-exempt income of Tk 1.63 crore for the financial years 2010-11 to 2011-12, but no evidence was found to support this claim either.
Apart from this, no proof was found for incomes of Tk聽1.71 crore from fisheries, Tk聽1.53 crore from house properties and Tk聽3.02 crore from other sources.
The ACC team found evidence of assets worth Tk 74 lakh in the name of Iqbalur鈥檚 wife, Nadira Sultana who is a housewife.
The ACC inquiry also uncovered properties, including a house on five kathas of land at Bashundhara鈥檚 N Block, a property at Uttara Model Town, a 2,500-square-foot flat at Dhanmondi and two vehicles all registered in Iqbalur鈥檚 name.
Upon verifying account details at various banks, it was found that nearly all accounts in Iqbalur鈥檚 name or in the name of his businesses were opened during the past three tenures of Awami League.
The ACC has imposed a travel ban on Iqbalur Rahim and his wife, effective from October 28, 2024. But Iqbalur reportedly fled the country after the fall of the AL government.