The Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday launched an inquiry against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and some other people over allegations of wasting Tk 4,000 crore from state treasury for celebrating ‘Mujib Barsha’ in 2020.
The ACC on the day also filed two cases against former Awami League lawmaker for Chapainawabganj-3 constituency, Abdul Wadud, and his wife Morjina Wadud on charges of amassing illegal wealth.
ACC director general Akhtar Hossain said that a seven-member inquiry team, led by the commission deputy director Monirul Islam, was formed to carry out the probe over losses of Tk 4,000 crore from the state treasury for celebrating ‘Mujib Barsha’ in 2020.
Hasina and Rehana are daughters of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
According to the allegations, the ousted Awami League government had constructed more than 10,000 murals and sculptures across the country to celebrate Mujib Barsha.
The state had to lose around Tk 4,000 crore due to the construction of unnecessary murals and sculptures and organising events to celebrate the Mujib Year to mark the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujib, said the allegation.
The AL regime had announced that 2020-21 (from March 17, 2020 to March 31, 2021) would be celebrated as Mujib Year.
However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the programmes could not be held on time and the period of Mujib Year was extended by about nine months to December 16, 2021.
After the fall of the AL regime amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024, the ACC started a number of inquiries against Sheikh Hasina, Rehana and their family members over graft charges.
The ACC has already filed six cases against Sheikh Hasina, Rehana and their other family members on charges of corruption and irregularities in the allotment of six government plots in the Purbachal new town project.
Meanwhile, ACC assistant director Pias Pal filed a case with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 against former lawmaker Md Abdul Wadud on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 1.35 crore and suspicious transactions of Tk 172 crore in his 21 bank accounts between 2005 and 2024.
ACC deputy assistant director Rakib Uddin Minhaj filed another case against Wadud’s wife, Morjina Wadud, allegedly for amassing illegal wealth of Tk 42 lakh and suspicious transactions of Tk 7.54 crore in her seven bank accounts.