LGRD ministry writes letter to ACC to investigate corruption and irregularities, Sakku himself confirms 78 flats, huge properties with named and unnamed, MP Bahar sends letter to inquiry the wealth.
Two-time Comilla City Corporation (CoCC) mayor and expelled BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku had turned the city corporation into a centre of corruption, irregularities, dirty-filthy and traffic jams destroying the century-long heritage and culture.
The former mayor had acknowledged to the media that he has 78 flats in the city corporation area. Sakku amassed huge wealth in named and unnamed. Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Co-operatives (LGRD) has sent a letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate into his wealth.
In the letter signed by Shamsul Islam, the deputy secretary of the LGRD ministry requested the anti-graft body to take legal action against the corruption and irregularities of Sakku.
On the other hand, lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar, who was very close to former mayor Sakku, requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR), to take legal action against the uninformed wealth of Sakku.
Bahauddin Bahar sent the letter to the NBR chairman on 14 January. On the same day, she also sent another letter to the LGRD ministry mentioning details of the corruption and irregularities of the former BNP leader. MP Bahar included paper cuttings and an audio record of Monirul Haque Sakku with the letters.
According to the letters, during his tenure mayor Monirul Haque Sakku approved many unauthorized buildings in Comilla City in exchange for huge amounts of bribes. He has taken Tk 85 lakh, Tk 80 lakh, Tk 60 lakh, and Tk 40 lakh bribe for approving the plan of some much-discussed buildings. Sakku had taken Tk 10-15 lakh on average for approval of every building plan.
The letters also read that Mayor Sakku approved the construction of buildings or piling works illegally alongside the passing of building plans in some cases verbally by using sole power to take bribes which is out of the jurisdiction of Mayor Sakku.
Besides, he cleaned drains in the city corporation by using his staff and machinery. But, Sakku called tender of Tk 50-70 lakh in the name of cleaning drains. He embezzled the funds of the tender. The letters also said Mayor Sakku misappropriated Tk 50-60 lakh per year through various quotations without doing work. Although he has no contractor license, Sakku did these jobs with his business partner Badal Sarkar who has two licenses named ‘Bithi Enterprise’ and ‘Sidul Enterprise.’
The letters sent by MP Bahar also read that Mayor Sakku used to take a 5 per cent bribe during the work order of the tender. He also had taken another 5 per cent bribe while taking bill of the tenders.
It is widely discussed that when Mayor Sakku went to Dhaka he used to take a sack of money every time.
According to the letters, on 26 November 2022, the then city mayor Sakku at a media briefing announced that he has 78 flats in Comilla city and urged the BNP leaders and activists to stay there during BNP’s regional grand rally. He also announced that he would supply food to all BNP men during the rally. It is known that Monirul Haque Sakku has more than 100 flats in Dhaka city.
Contacted, Sakku denied the allegations brought against him. He said, “We (Sakku and his wife) have no wealth out of my income tax file. I have said about 78 flats and it was just a bunch of words. However, we have 48 flats in Comilla City and these are our paternal properties. We have constructed the flats of our six brothers and five sisters’ land through developers.”
@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on January 30, 2024 and has been rewritten in English by Golam Rosul.
