BanglaBhoot
RETIRED TTA
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2007
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- 8,839
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Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
According to latest press reports, authorities in Singapore, at the request of Anti Corruption Commission [ACC] of Bangladesh has seized US$ 1.8 million in a local bank, which was deposited by Arafat Rahman Koko, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Such actions by ACC came just weeks before the much anticipated general election in Bangladesh. Although authorities in Dhaka are continuing to hunt wealth and illegal activities of the former Prime Minister and leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP], it is rumored that the military controlled regime in Dhaka are ignoring the fact of huge wealth and illegal money owned by Sheikh Rehana, who is the younger sister of another former Prime Minister and leader of Bangladesh Awami League, Sheikh Hasina.
Arafat Rahman Koko, youngest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, has foreign currencies worth around US$ 1.8 million deposited in a Singapore bank but he concealed its information in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission [ACC].
With the help of Singapore government the anti-graft watchdog came to know that Koko has 2.61 million Singaporean dollars and 261,000 US dollars. The ACC revealed the stunning information at a routine press briefing on Thursday.
It also informed that the son of the former prime minister owns a firm named ZASZ Trading and Consulting Pte Ltd in Singapore jointly with a Singapore national, who is Koko's paid service agent. The whole amount was deposited in the joint account of that firm at different times in 2005.
Non-resident foreigners cannot open a company in Singapore and has to have a Singaporean agent to do that, ACC sources said.
Interestingly, 17 days after anti-corruption drive was launched in Bangladesh, Koko transferred 2.13 million Singapore dollars [SGD] to an account with the Singapore branch of French bank Credit Industriel et Commercial from the ZASZ joint account.
Singapore government recently froze the ZASZ account and sent necessary documents to the ACC, prompting the commission to initiate legal procedures.
Of the amount, China Harbor Engineering sent about 1.8 million SGD to that account and the rest came from other sources. The performance of China Harbor Engineering in Bangladesh is questionable for reasons including delaying to carry out work on various pretexts.
ACC Director General [Admin] Col Hanif Iqbal told reporters that they received evidence and necessary papers that confirm Koko's ownership of the money.
"Legal procedures have already been initiated and the commission is currently enquiring the matter. Once the enquiry finds the allegations are true, legal proceedings will be taken against the persons involved and efforts will be made to bring back the money," Hanif said.
The investigation will confirm if there was any violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulations of Bangladesh Bank, if the money was shown in Koko's wealth statement, and if any offence was committed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ACC has already filed three cases against Koko.
According to Singapore government's information, Koko registered the trading and consulting firm in that country with the help of a few associates and the Singaporean service agent on April 10, 2004.
China Harbor Engineering sent to the firm's account 920,000 SGD and 830,000 SGD on May 6 and 31 and another 829,000 lakh SGD on August 1 in 2005. The ZASZ received another 303,000 SGD from another source on October 6 the same year.
Singapore government's information says Koko transferred 830,000 SGD from the account of ZASZ to another place on July 29, 2005.
The Singapore government informed the ACC about the matter through its Attorney General's Office following Bangladesh government's request for mutual legal assistance. The Bangladesh government sent the request under the UN Convention against Corruption to help find information regarding wealth amassed through illegal means and corruption and restrain use of that money by identifying the corrupt person.
Although ACC requested Singapore and other foreign nations for finding illegal wealth of the family members of Khaleda Zia, it is learnt that, it is keeping mum on the issue of freezing accounts held by Sheikh Rehana and members of her family, where they have deposited huge amount of money received as bribes and kick-backs from various foreign companies. During Awami League tenure [1996-2001], Sheikh Rehana was known as Madame Commission, who was the exclusively authorized person of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to transact all illegal cash dealings. ACC also stopped investigating the matter of illegal wealth accrued by another top ranking Awami League leader, Tofael Ahmed, as he accorded support to the present regime after the political change in 2006.
It may be mentioned here that, Sheikh Rehana owns expensive properties and wealth in United Kingdom although she does not have any valid source of income for acquiring such huge property. Son of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sajib Wajed Joy, who lives in United States, also acquired property worth millions of dollar, when his mother was Bangladeshs Prime Minister.
Joy has hardly much childhood association with Bangladesh. His mother lived a life in exile since August 1975, spending a long asylum in India under the patronage of the Indian government. She would live at Basant Bahar, the safe house run by the agencies there.
As a result, Joy had his early education in India where he spent much of his formative years. They may have returned to Bangladesh in 1981, but there was a sense of isolation from normal family life for Joy. This was only to be expected, given his boarding school years, the intense political activities of his mother, all compounded with the estrangement of his parents.
Persons who knew him then say he was a rather reckless youth. Even later, he reportedly met with an accident in Gulshan in the mid-nineties, totaling the Pajero jeep of a businessman of Narayanganj. Rather than keeping him in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina sent her son to the US for further studies. She perhaps felt that would give him some stability, a sense of responsibility.
Life in the USA didnt seem to change Joy much. That reckless trait in his character showed itself time and again. Records show several cases were filed against him. He has been charged on various occasions with drunken driving, speeding, reckless driving, unlawful use of radar detection device, and even carrying an unlicensed gun. He even had to spend time in jail for his misdemeanours, not to mention all the fines he had to pay too. If Hasina had political aspirations for him, she couldnt have chosen a more unsuitable candidate.
As it is, he had a basically apolitical character. He disliked the gathering of poor people at home and expressed a distinct disinterest in politics. He often snubbed persons who, out of affection or simple curiousity, came to meet Sheikh Mujibs grandson.
He continued his fast life in the US as he had no sense of belonging with Bangladesh, no affinity to his mothers party and had no intention of living with his dysfunctional family at home. In was no secret that there was no love lost between Sheikh Hasina and husband Wazed Miah.
During his mothers tenure as Bangladeshs Prime Minister [1996-2001], Joy reportedly got engaged with an old girlfriend from his school days. She was an Indian girl of Sikh religion. Hasina, taking cover of an official visit, went to London to formalize the marriage. Along with some close friends and relations, she even took along cooks of Dhakas famous Fakhruddin bawarchi. Her one condition was that the girl convert to Islam. The girl refused. Hasina was more than upset. She reportedly cancelled all programs on that day. She shut herself up in her hotel room the whole day, refusing to talk to any one. She immediately returned to Dhaka. The marriage reception never took place, and her entourage, cooks and all, returned home.
Late Joy got married to American citizen Kristine Ann Overmire. They were married in the US on October 26, 2002. Kristine reportedly was previously married to Richard D Loomis. Although the couple had a child, Christine, who has a dignified family back ground in United States receintly left Joy for his rowdy life style. It is learnt that, during the ongoing electoral campaign, Hasina tried to get Joy and his former wife in Bangladesh to participate in the election campaign, but, Christine reportedly refused to be in Bangladesh as she already has cut relations with Hasinas son.
When Awami League came to power and his mother became ruler of the country, Joy got involved in business. There was the Texas-based Infolink International [from November 1998 to March 2001] and Nova BD International, LLC [May 1998 to August 2000]. He had links with the SEAMEWE-4 undersea cable project through Nova BD International. He was also involved with Tyco Communications [USA] along with a certain Mahboob Rahman.
He also founded two other companies, Wazed Consulting and Sim Global Services in March 2005. This was after Awami League was out of power. Interestingly, the annual sales of these two companies were only 61,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars respectively. Yet Joy, in his own name, bought a brand new house at 3817 Bell Manor Court, Falls Church, Virginia, on May 12, 2006, worth about one million dollars. His wife is not a co-owner of the house. He used a fixed-rate mortgage and paid only about 200 thousand dollars [20 percent of the value] in cash. This was a clever move as it hid the real value of the property in terms of cash.
Earlier, together with his wife, he brought another property at 4823 Martin Street, Alexandria, VA 22312. The property is worth 749,000 US dollars.
Like Joy, his brother-in-law Khandkar M Hossain, husband of sister Saima Wazed Hossain [Putul], started a few businesses in the US when his mother-in-law Sheikh Hasina came to power, but dissolved them after a couple of years. These businesses included Bangladesh Metals and Pipes Trading Corporation; Shonali Inc; Dougs Wholesale Inc; Afsana Inc; and Jampy Corporation.
Apparently business was not quite the cup of tea for either of them. However, despite none of the businesses seeming to make any money and most of them being shut down before long, no one has ever heard of them suffering from financial difficulties. Perhaps mothers affection helped them in this regard.
Criminal court clerk records identify the following criminal charges and arrests of Sajib Wazed Joy:
On June 14 1998, Joy was arrested in Tarrant County, Texas. He was charged on two counts of carrying an unlicensed handgun and one count of driving while intoxicated. He was convicted for drunken driving and was imprisoned for 120 days, sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500.
On February 6, 2000, Joy was charged with reckless driving and having a radar detector in Hanover County, Virginia. He was fined and incarcerated for one day.
On March 19, 2000, he was arrested and charged with reckless driving in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was found guilty and given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months probation along with a $400 fine.
On April 29, 2001, Joy was charged with speeding in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
On May 20, 2004, Joy was charged with speeding in Arlington County, Virginia.
Property of Hasinas daughter:
Saima Wazed Hossain [Putul], Sheikh Hasinas daughter and Joys younger sister, along with husband Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, own considerable property in the US. The houses they purchased there include:
456 North Bay Point Way, Jacksonville, Florida. This is a single family residence purchased by Saima and husband Hossain on November 1, 2005 for US$ 245,000 from Merrill and Priscilla King.
845 York Way, Maitland, Florida. This is also a single family residence purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 16, 2004, for US$ 311,000 from David and Elizabeth Cocchiarella. The property has an assessed value of US$ 208,844.
2065 W 119th Avenue, Miramar, Florida. This single family residence was purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 28, 1998 for US$154,300 from Pulte Home Corporation. On March 15, 2005, a non-purchase money loan of US$197,000, was obtained from SunTrust Bank secured with this property. The property has an assessed value of US$265,440.
It is a big question to all that when Bangladeshi authorities are continuing their withch hunt to find hiddne assets of Khaleda Zia, why they are completely silent on the issue of illegal wealth of Sjib Wajed Joy, Saima Wajed Putul or Sheikh Rehana. It is even rumored that a certain section of bureaucracy in Bangladesh are over enthusiastic in throwing black balls on Bangladesh Nationalist Party, especially before the upcoming general election, with the goal of seeing this party defeated in the poll.
Weeklyblitz.net : Internet Edition
According to latest press reports, authorities in Singapore, at the request of Anti Corruption Commission [ACC] of Bangladesh has seized US$ 1.8 million in a local bank, which was deposited by Arafat Rahman Koko, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Such actions by ACC came just weeks before the much anticipated general election in Bangladesh. Although authorities in Dhaka are continuing to hunt wealth and illegal activities of the former Prime Minister and leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP], it is rumored that the military controlled regime in Dhaka are ignoring the fact of huge wealth and illegal money owned by Sheikh Rehana, who is the younger sister of another former Prime Minister and leader of Bangladesh Awami League, Sheikh Hasina.
Arafat Rahman Koko, youngest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, has foreign currencies worth around US$ 1.8 million deposited in a Singapore bank but he concealed its information in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission [ACC].
With the help of Singapore government the anti-graft watchdog came to know that Koko has 2.61 million Singaporean dollars and 261,000 US dollars. The ACC revealed the stunning information at a routine press briefing on Thursday.
It also informed that the son of the former prime minister owns a firm named ZASZ Trading and Consulting Pte Ltd in Singapore jointly with a Singapore national, who is Koko's paid service agent. The whole amount was deposited in the joint account of that firm at different times in 2005.
Non-resident foreigners cannot open a company in Singapore and has to have a Singaporean agent to do that, ACC sources said.
Interestingly, 17 days after anti-corruption drive was launched in Bangladesh, Koko transferred 2.13 million Singapore dollars [SGD] to an account with the Singapore branch of French bank Credit Industriel et Commercial from the ZASZ joint account.
Singapore government recently froze the ZASZ account and sent necessary documents to the ACC, prompting the commission to initiate legal procedures.
Of the amount, China Harbor Engineering sent about 1.8 million SGD to that account and the rest came from other sources. The performance of China Harbor Engineering in Bangladesh is questionable for reasons including delaying to carry out work on various pretexts.
ACC Director General [Admin] Col Hanif Iqbal told reporters that they received evidence and necessary papers that confirm Koko's ownership of the money.
"Legal procedures have already been initiated and the commission is currently enquiring the matter. Once the enquiry finds the allegations are true, legal proceedings will be taken against the persons involved and efforts will be made to bring back the money," Hanif said.
The investigation will confirm if there was any violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulations of Bangladesh Bank, if the money was shown in Koko's wealth statement, and if any offence was committed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ACC has already filed three cases against Koko.
According to Singapore government's information, Koko registered the trading and consulting firm in that country with the help of a few associates and the Singaporean service agent on April 10, 2004.
China Harbor Engineering sent to the firm's account 920,000 SGD and 830,000 SGD on May 6 and 31 and another 829,000 lakh SGD on August 1 in 2005. The ZASZ received another 303,000 SGD from another source on October 6 the same year.
Singapore government's information says Koko transferred 830,000 SGD from the account of ZASZ to another place on July 29, 2005.
The Singapore government informed the ACC about the matter through its Attorney General's Office following Bangladesh government's request for mutual legal assistance. The Bangladesh government sent the request under the UN Convention against Corruption to help find information regarding wealth amassed through illegal means and corruption and restrain use of that money by identifying the corrupt person.
Although ACC requested Singapore and other foreign nations for finding illegal wealth of the family members of Khaleda Zia, it is learnt that, it is keeping mum on the issue of freezing accounts held by Sheikh Rehana and members of her family, where they have deposited huge amount of money received as bribes and kick-backs from various foreign companies. During Awami League tenure [1996-2001], Sheikh Rehana was known as Madame Commission, who was the exclusively authorized person of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to transact all illegal cash dealings. ACC also stopped investigating the matter of illegal wealth accrued by another top ranking Awami League leader, Tofael Ahmed, as he accorded support to the present regime after the political change in 2006.
It may be mentioned here that, Sheikh Rehana owns expensive properties and wealth in United Kingdom although she does not have any valid source of income for acquiring such huge property. Son of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sajib Wajed Joy, who lives in United States, also acquired property worth millions of dollar, when his mother was Bangladeshs Prime Minister.
Joy has hardly much childhood association with Bangladesh. His mother lived a life in exile since August 1975, spending a long asylum in India under the patronage of the Indian government. She would live at Basant Bahar, the safe house run by the agencies there.
As a result, Joy had his early education in India where he spent much of his formative years. They may have returned to Bangladesh in 1981, but there was a sense of isolation from normal family life for Joy. This was only to be expected, given his boarding school years, the intense political activities of his mother, all compounded with the estrangement of his parents.
Persons who knew him then say he was a rather reckless youth. Even later, he reportedly met with an accident in Gulshan in the mid-nineties, totaling the Pajero jeep of a businessman of Narayanganj. Rather than keeping him in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina sent her son to the US for further studies. She perhaps felt that would give him some stability, a sense of responsibility.
Life in the USA didnt seem to change Joy much. That reckless trait in his character showed itself time and again. Records show several cases were filed against him. He has been charged on various occasions with drunken driving, speeding, reckless driving, unlawful use of radar detection device, and even carrying an unlicensed gun. He even had to spend time in jail for his misdemeanours, not to mention all the fines he had to pay too. If Hasina had political aspirations for him, she couldnt have chosen a more unsuitable candidate.
As it is, he had a basically apolitical character. He disliked the gathering of poor people at home and expressed a distinct disinterest in politics. He often snubbed persons who, out of affection or simple curiousity, came to meet Sheikh Mujibs grandson.
He continued his fast life in the US as he had no sense of belonging with Bangladesh, no affinity to his mothers party and had no intention of living with his dysfunctional family at home. In was no secret that there was no love lost between Sheikh Hasina and husband Wazed Miah.
During his mothers tenure as Bangladeshs Prime Minister [1996-2001], Joy reportedly got engaged with an old girlfriend from his school days. She was an Indian girl of Sikh religion. Hasina, taking cover of an official visit, went to London to formalize the marriage. Along with some close friends and relations, she even took along cooks of Dhakas famous Fakhruddin bawarchi. Her one condition was that the girl convert to Islam. The girl refused. Hasina was more than upset. She reportedly cancelled all programs on that day. She shut herself up in her hotel room the whole day, refusing to talk to any one. She immediately returned to Dhaka. The marriage reception never took place, and her entourage, cooks and all, returned home.
Late Joy got married to American citizen Kristine Ann Overmire. They were married in the US on October 26, 2002. Kristine reportedly was previously married to Richard D Loomis. Although the couple had a child, Christine, who has a dignified family back ground in United States receintly left Joy for his rowdy life style. It is learnt that, during the ongoing electoral campaign, Hasina tried to get Joy and his former wife in Bangladesh to participate in the election campaign, but, Christine reportedly refused to be in Bangladesh as she already has cut relations with Hasinas son.
When Awami League came to power and his mother became ruler of the country, Joy got involved in business. There was the Texas-based Infolink International [from November 1998 to March 2001] and Nova BD International, LLC [May 1998 to August 2000]. He had links with the SEAMEWE-4 undersea cable project through Nova BD International. He was also involved with Tyco Communications [USA] along with a certain Mahboob Rahman.
He also founded two other companies, Wazed Consulting and Sim Global Services in March 2005. This was after Awami League was out of power. Interestingly, the annual sales of these two companies were only 61,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars respectively. Yet Joy, in his own name, bought a brand new house at 3817 Bell Manor Court, Falls Church, Virginia, on May 12, 2006, worth about one million dollars. His wife is not a co-owner of the house. He used a fixed-rate mortgage and paid only about 200 thousand dollars [20 percent of the value] in cash. This was a clever move as it hid the real value of the property in terms of cash.
Earlier, together with his wife, he brought another property at 4823 Martin Street, Alexandria, VA 22312. The property is worth 749,000 US dollars.
Like Joy, his brother-in-law Khandkar M Hossain, husband of sister Saima Wazed Hossain [Putul], started a few businesses in the US when his mother-in-law Sheikh Hasina came to power, but dissolved them after a couple of years. These businesses included Bangladesh Metals and Pipes Trading Corporation; Shonali Inc; Dougs Wholesale Inc; Afsana Inc; and Jampy Corporation.
Apparently business was not quite the cup of tea for either of them. However, despite none of the businesses seeming to make any money and most of them being shut down before long, no one has ever heard of them suffering from financial difficulties. Perhaps mothers affection helped them in this regard.
Criminal court clerk records identify the following criminal charges and arrests of Sajib Wazed Joy:
On June 14 1998, Joy was arrested in Tarrant County, Texas. He was charged on two counts of carrying an unlicensed handgun and one count of driving while intoxicated. He was convicted for drunken driving and was imprisoned for 120 days, sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500.
On February 6, 2000, Joy was charged with reckless driving and having a radar detector in Hanover County, Virginia. He was fined and incarcerated for one day.
On March 19, 2000, he was arrested and charged with reckless driving in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was found guilty and given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months probation along with a $400 fine.
On April 29, 2001, Joy was charged with speeding in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
On May 20, 2004, Joy was charged with speeding in Arlington County, Virginia.
Property of Hasinas daughter:
Saima Wazed Hossain [Putul], Sheikh Hasinas daughter and Joys younger sister, along with husband Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, own considerable property in the US. The houses they purchased there include:
456 North Bay Point Way, Jacksonville, Florida. This is a single family residence purchased by Saima and husband Hossain on November 1, 2005 for US$ 245,000 from Merrill and Priscilla King.
845 York Way, Maitland, Florida. This is also a single family residence purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 16, 2004, for US$ 311,000 from David and Elizabeth Cocchiarella. The property has an assessed value of US$ 208,844.
2065 W 119th Avenue, Miramar, Florida. This single family residence was purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 28, 1998 for US$154,300 from Pulte Home Corporation. On March 15, 2005, a non-purchase money loan of US$197,000, was obtained from SunTrust Bank secured with this property. The property has an assessed value of US$265,440.
It is a big question to all that when Bangladeshi authorities are continuing their withch hunt to find hiddne assets of Khaleda Zia, why they are completely silent on the issue of illegal wealth of Sjib Wajed Joy, Saima Wajed Putul or Sheikh Rehana. It is even rumored that a certain section of bureaucracy in Bangladesh are over enthusiastic in throwing black balls on Bangladesh Nationalist Party, especially before the upcoming general election, with the goal of seeing this party defeated in the poll.
Weeklyblitz.net : Internet Edition
