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Bribe money was going to Suranjit's home, 10 cr tk deal agreed:driver Azam

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'Suranjit, Mridha were hand in glove'


Fri, Oct 5th, 2012 5:42 pm BdST
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Dhaka, Oct 5 (bdnews24.com)— Former Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta had struck a Tk 100-million deal with former Railway General Manager Yusuf Ali Mridha for appointing 600 people on his recommendation, claims Azam Khan, the driver of Suranjit's Assistant Personal Secretary.

Khan had been missing since Suranjit's APS Omar Faruque Talukder, GM Mridha and Railway Police Commandant Enamul Hoque were found with Tk 7.4 million near the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters at Peelkhana on Apr 9. He was driving the car carrying the money.

The incident led to Suranjit's resignation from the ministry on Apr 16. However, he was reinstated as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet later.

The driver's going missing since the incident gave rise to speculation about him becoming a victim of 'forced disappearance' to cover up the scandal that brought the government harsh criticism, mainly from the opposition.

Newspapers reported aspirants bribed the minister for appointment in the railway ministry.

Five months had passed since the disappearance of the driver when Khan suddenly appeared on Rtv on Thursday night narrating the sequence of events in an interview from an undisclosed location, which appeared to be a vast crop field.

"As far I know, Suranjit had the contract with the railway GM through his APS Faruque. In the car, they discussed about Suranjit Sengupta receiving Tk 10 crore (Tk 100 million) for appointing 600 men recommended by the General Manager," Khan said in the interview.

He claimed he was offered the entire money his employer Faruque was carrying in a briefcase that night.

According to Khan, after refusing the offer, he drove the car into the BGB headquarters gate on way to the minister's residence.

"We left with the money in the APS Faruque's car from House No. 5 on Road No. 3 of Dhanmondi. On way to Jigatala, I drove the car through Entrance No. 4 to the BGB (headquarters)," Khan said.

As the car entered the BGB gate, Faruque and others asked him where he was going, Azam said narrating the incident.

"Then I said, this money is born out of corruption, for railways appointment ... I will have all of you arrested," Khan said.

He said the guard on duty at the entrance did not stop the car.

"At this stage, they made the offer (of bribe)," he claimed.

He said first they offered him Tk 0.5 million to drive them out of the BGB office, and then offered half the money before finally offering the entire sum they had with them.

The money was not counted until at 10am the next morning, when Faruque, Enamul and Mridha got another driver from outside, who drove them out of the BGB headquarters.

According to Faruque, Maj Shafiur Rahman had handed him a cheque of Tk 3 crore (Tk 30 million) for appointing several hundred people in the railways.

"Money was taken (to the minister's house) several times earlier," Khan added.

He claimed he did not have any demand like getting his people appointed.

He said he used to carry money in his car from the residence of a man named Nipen, and he talked about some sub-registrars, whose names he could not recollect, who could throw more light on the scandal.

Inside the BGB headquarters, after they were caught with the money, Suranjit's APS and others said it was government's money, he said.

"I knew the Prime Minister is against corruption ... I want no corrupt is spared in the country," he added.

Khan said that he no more wanted to remain a fugitive and also wanted to assist the government in probe.

Suranjit could not be reached for his comments.

His current Personal Secretary Kamrul Hoque said that the minister was visiting his constituency.

bdnews24.com/si/aha/eh/nir/1734h

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:triniti:lets hear what Churonjit has to say about this.
 
Will this exposure shut the big mouth of this theif choronjeet? Probably not. We have to see his ugly face on national TV.
 
'

:rofl:The people of Bangladesh has to wait until the 10th of October to hear from his majesty Churonjit.
 
Saturday, October 6, 2012

Railway money used in Soumen's telecom business: Azam


Railway money used in Soumen's telecom business: Azam

2012-10-06__saumenand-Azam-finall.jpg


Soumen Sengupta and Azam Khan
Star Online Report
Driver Azam Khan, the whistleblower of railwaygate scandal, claimed that railway's money had been used in the telecom business of former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta's son Soumen Sengupta.

"Discussion about the business of Suranjit's son Soumen Sengupta took place in front of me," Azam, driver of Siranjit's sacked-assistant personal secretary (APS) Omar Faruq Talukder, said in the last part of a two-part interview with Rtv aired on Saturday.

Azam, who appeared in the interview for the first time since the April 9 railwaygate scam, had been missing since the scandal surfaced.

On April 9, Azam drove Faruq's microbus into Pilkhana, and blew the whistle that there was 74 lakh cash stashed in the vehicle.

Apart from Faruq, railway's general manager (east) Yusuf Ali Mridha and Dhaka division security commandant Enamul Huq were in the microbus. Faruq was sacked and Mridha and Enamul were suspended following the incident.

After the vehicle entered Pilkhana, the Border Guard Bangladesh detained the four for that night but freed them the next day when their identification was confirmed.

Not only as minister, Suranjit had been involved in several grafts involving recruitment and transfer when he was the head of Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Azam told the private television.

The driver claimed that Suranjit used to phone State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam and tell him, "I am sending my APS. There are some quotas."

If Suranjit Sengupta had given five (names), the APS would add five more and get money, Azam claimed.

After the railwaygate scandal, the APS offered Azam ten to twenty lakh taka on condition of saving the then railway minister, the driver said.

"The APS told me that if you agree with us, you will get a good amount but I (Azam) told him that it was not possible for me."

Earlier, the APS told Azam that from next time, they would collect money through a bank account of a Suranjit's friend as it had become risky to carry the money in car.

"I had targeted to get them arrested with the money. As they decided not to carry money in my car anymore, it was the last chance for me. So, I drove the car into the Pilkhana on April 9," he said.

Azam quoted the APS, "We both know where the money was going. I have taken all the responsibilities (for the money). Do not implicate any others. Do not implicate Suranjit Sengupta. Implicate me. You will say, the money is mine."

Apprehending that he might be killed or abducted if he comes out of the hideout, Azam appealed to the prime minister and the home minister for securing his life.

"I feel bad. I want to see my father and mother," he said.

Seeking Suranjit's comment, the Rtv contacted him but Suranjit, the minister without portfolio, termed all the allegations baseless.

"What is the meaning to tell all this now? Want to drown the government? He has been called by the Anti-Corruption Commission several times. He did not turn up. Why did he not utter a single word in last six months?" Suranjit said.

Azam in the first interview with Rtv aired on Thursday night said the Tk 74 lakh stashed in his car was being taken to the then railway minister Suranjit's house.

Earlier on April 15, Yusuf Ali Mridha in a written statement to the ACC said he along with Faruq and Enamul was going to Suranjit's Jigatola residence that night.

And though a government investigation found irregularities in the recruitment in the railway's east zone, a railway departmental report on May 13 gave a clean chit to Suranjit Sengupta, saying he had no involvement in the scandal.

According to railway sources, some 1,128 people were given jobs in the railway's east zone in the last one year. Allegations are Yusuf and Faruq took Tk 3 to 5 lakh from each of the jobseekers.

The government probe committee also found that Mridha and four other railway officials "changed the exam papers of many disqualified jobseekers in exchange for money".

 
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I am innocent: Suranjit


I am innocent: Suranjit | Politics | bdnews24.com

Sat, Oct 6th, 2012 11:58 pm BdST

Dhaka, Oct 6 (bdnews24.com)— The former Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta on Saturday claimed his innocence in the cash scandal involving his former APS and a top railway official saying the incident was a 'nationally and internationally hatched plot' against him.

"I am innocent. I am not involved with this cash scandal. The railway cash scandal is a national and international conspiracy against me," he said at a rally in his constitutency.

The veteran politician, who became a minister for the first time in his long political career, came into limelight when his former Assistant Personal Secretary Omar Faruk and former Railway General Manager Yusuf Ali Mridha were caught with more than Tk 7 million in a car carrying them near the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters at Peelkhana headquarters on Apr 9.

Barely four months as a minister, Suranjit had to step down from the Cabinet on Apr 16 taking 'responsibility' for the scandal. However, he was reinstated as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet later.

Following the incident, Azam Khan, driver of his APS's car had been missing. He did not show up despite newspaper advertisements by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the railways authority.

Nearly six months have passed since the disappearnce of driver. But Azam sudenly appeared on a private TV on Thursday giving an interview from an undisclosed locatio. In the interview Azam claimed the money seized from the vehicle was 'bribe for appointment' at the railways. He also claimed the BGB nabbed Faruk with the cash on his way to Suranjit's home.

In the interview Azam alleged that Suranjit had struck a Tk 100 million with the railway GM Mridha through his APS Faruque. "In the car, they discussed about Suranjit Sengupta receiving the money and to recruit 600 men recommended by him."

However, Suranjit, now a Minister without Portfolio, termed Azam's allegations as an 'adverse behaviour' of media. "I have devoted my life for the politics of people's welfare. The media are behaving rudely against me," he claimed.

"I have bnever seen driver Azam Khan."

Reasserting his innocence, he said, "I came out clean in all the probes… I'll also prove to be innocent in future.

On May 13, a railway ministry investigation cleared Suranjit of the scandal.

He said he would give his formal reactions at a press briefing on Oct 10.

bdnews24.com/corr/zk/sk/2335h

was suranjit a jamaati ?

Yes one of the top Jamati leader... hope you are happy now.
 
Azam`s statement unacceptable: ACC


Azam`s statement unacceptable: ACC | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

Sun, Oct 7th, 2012 7:13 pm BdST

Dhaka, Oct 7 (bdnews24.com)—The anti-corruption watchdog on Sunday refused to accept the television interview by the driver of former Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta's personal aide that the influential ruling Awami League leader was involved in a massive cash scandal.

"Any witness deposition and cross-examination in Bangladesh is regulated by the Evidence Act of 1872. Courts conduct witness deposition under this Act," said Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Ghulam Rahman on Sunday.

"All ACC investigations are conducted in line with this Act. The ACC does not accept any witness or his statement, which is ultra vires the law, and a court does not accept it," he told reporters.

Sengupta, who got the taste of a Cabinet berth for the first time in his long political career, was flung into controversy as Border Guard Bangladesh members recovered Tk 7.4 million from the car carrying his aide Omar Faruk and former Railway General Manager Yusuf Ali Mridha on the night of Apr 9.

The driver drove the car into the BGB headquarters with its passengers and the money and drew attention that there was illegal money collected from job seekers in Bangladesh Railway.

Sengupta, barely four months into the Cabinet, stepped down a week later. He was later reinstated as a Minister without Portfolio.

Faruk's driver Azam Khan had been 'missing' since the incident. He did not show up despite ACC and the railway authorities summon through newspaper advertisements.

After six months, he suddenly appeared in an interview with a private TV station from an undisclosed location. In the interview, telecast on Thursday, he claimed the money was from "bribe for appointments in the railway" and he was carrying the money to Sengupta.

The ACC chief said, "The statement telecast on television does not fall under the Evidence Act."

The corruption watchdog has already found Mridha and Faruk's association with the scandal but Sengupta was declared clean.

At a rally on Saturday, Sengupta protested his innocence in the scandal and alleged the whole affair was part of a "national and international conspiracy" against him.

He will give his formal reaction to Azam's interview on Oct 10.

When asked whether Azam's interview will have any impact on the ACC probe, Rahman said, "We never said he (Sengupta) is innocent. Rather we said there is no evidence of his direct involvement with it (cash scandal)."

He said the ACC will summon Sengupta, if needed, during investigation.

bdnews24.com/sw/zk/jr/bd/1854h
 
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