Former state minister for power, energy and mineral resources to the ousted Awami League (AL) government Nasrul Hamid owns a one-bigha plot opposite the Gulshan Club in the capital.
He developed the property in the style of a farmhouse, where he used to chit-chat and hang out with family and friends when he was in power. The place was his ‘Kingdom of Happiness’ then.
After the change in the political landscape of the country, he fled the country and went into hiding. Although there has been no news for a while, he has been looking for a buyer to sell the plot worth 200 crores of taka for the past two months.
It is known that the former minister is trying to convince industrialists to buy his plot.
However, since there is no buyer for such a large area with the huge amount of money, his company Hamid Real Estate is trying to sell it in small plots. Along with this, he is looking for buyers for his five bighas of land next to the 100-foot road of Madani Avenue in the capital.
A source wishing to be unnamed confirmed that though he has failed to sell these two large plots of land so far, Nasrul Hamid has already sold several small plots and houses in Gulshan, Banani and Niketan areas.
He took a large portion of the proceeds from the property sale abroad through ‘Hundi’. Nasrul is currently residing in India.
In the condition of anonymity, a businessman said Nasrul Hamid told him that he was selling most of his properties and was looking for buyers. The former minister had requested the unnamed businessman to buy his Gulshan and Madani Avenue plots.
“Besides, Nasrul asked me to find him buyers,” said the businessman, adding that he had insufficient money to buy Nasrul’s properties.
“I expressed my inability to buy these properties,” the businessman continued.
Nasrul’s father was a real estate entrepreneur, and Hamid Group is their family-owned business. Hamid Real Estate Construction Ltd, Hamid Construction Ltd, Hamid Economic Zone, Hamid Fashion Ltd, Hamid Sweater Ltd and Hamid Agro Ltd are running its business activities under the group.
‘Proyoprangon’ is the brand of Hamid Real Estate where Nasrul’s sibling Enthekhabul Hamid is carrying out his job as Managing Director of the company. Like brother Nasrul, Enthekhabul also went into hiding after the ouster of the fascist Sheikh Hasina-led government.
Nasrul and Enthekhabul were contacted through multiple channels to get their comments on the property sale, but no comment was received.
An official of Hamid Real Estate said that the family owns at least eight thousand crore taka worth of properties.
“The companies’ business was operational until August 5 last year. But since then, the situation has steadily deteriorated. Several employees have already been laid off or sent on leave.”
“The company’s real estate business is in a very bad state and several pieces of land have already been unoccupied,” the official continued.
Hamid Real Estate Ltd has developed ‘Proyoprangon-1’ and ‘Proyoprangon-2’ in the capital’s Keraniganj. The company has been selling plots in the residential area for more than two decades in cash and installments.
There are allegations that the land was forcibly purchased during the establishment of the residential area. Some have also claimed that they were forced to sell the land even at a lower price than the market price.
After the ouster of fascist Sheikh Hasina, Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ministers have fled the country and taken shelter in various countries, including Europe and America. Now they are selling their properties and taking money out of the country through Hundi.
Nasrul was carrying out his job as the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources for more than one decade. The ministry has been the scene of the most waste and looting of government money in the past one and a half decades.
Nasrul Hamid was alleged of building a vast empire with the money he earned through his own business and bribery and corruption. He also has properties and businesses in various parts of the country outside the capital.
More than 30 billion of dollars, equivalent to three lakh 66 thousand crore taka (according to the current dollar exchange rate 112) have been invested in the sector in the last one and a half decades. Of these, 28.30 billion equivalents to three lakh 46 thousand crore taka have been invested from 2009-10 to 2021-22 fiscal years.
Nasrul Hamid himself informed the National Parliament in 2022 about this investment in the power sector.
In the past one and a half decades, dozens of projects in the renewable energy sector have been approved in the country. These projects were given under a special law on the power and energy sector. This law allowed the power, energy and mineral resources minister to approve projects through negotiations without any tender.
Since fascist Sheikh Hasina herself was in charge of this ministry, it is alleged that Nasrul Hamid was the sole mastermind of the entire power and energy sector. He used to approve various projects and power plants by using the power of the law.
Several businessmen in the power sector have said that they had to pay a percentage to Nasrul Hamid for each of the power plants approved in the country in the past decade. The amount of bribes he received from this sector alone would be more than a thousand crore taka.
In addition to the power sector, Nasrul Hamid also had a stake in the import of LPG and LNG in various ways. The government planned to build a large terminal for importing LPG in the country in 2021.
Nasrul Hamid opened a shell company in Singapore in the name of his uncle to take on this huge investment project. He intervened in selecting that company and two other international companies, Switzerland-based Vitol and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, for the contract to build the 305 million dollar LPG terminal. Nasrul Hamid eventually had to turn back as the matter of this serious corruption came to light at the time.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has already filed a case against Nasrul Hamid on charges of acquiring illegal assets and making unusual transactions of three thousand 181 crore taka in 98 bank accounts.
Apart from Nasrul, the agency has also filed separate cases against his wife Seema Hamid and son Zarif Hamid on charges of acquiring assets beyond known income. He has also been named as an accused in these cases filed last December.
The ACC was launched to investigate corruption allegations against Nasrul Hamid on August 22 last year. On that day, joint forces conducted a raid on his company Hamid Group. During this time, cash, foreign currency, weapons and other items kept in several vaults inside the building called ‘Proyoprangon’ were seized.
Source: Kaler Kantho
Translated by AM
