The High Court has stayed for three months the investigation into a case involving a Gulshan flat allegedly owned by British MP and former city minister Tulip Siddiq, the niece of five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on April 15, accusing her of possessing a flat at Eastern Housing Limited in the capitalโs Gulshan unlawfully.
The two other accused are Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) legal adviser Shah Md Khasruzzaman and former assistant legal adviser-1 Sardar Mosharraf Hossain.
According to the primary investigation of the ACC, the trio abused their power and unlawfully took possession of a flat belonging to Eastern Housing Limited in Gulshan-2 (Flat No. B/201, House No. 5A and 5B [old], currently 113 and 11B [new], Road No. 71) without making any payment. They later registered the property in their names. The building was constructed on leased government land through forgery and deceit. Tulip Siddiq unlawfully took possession of a flat in that building.
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The anti-graft watchdog intends to bring charges against them under sections 120(B), 409, 161-165(A), 109 of the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
The interim government, led by former Grameen Bank managing director Muhammad Yunus, has filed multiple cases against Tulip and other members of Sheikh Hasinaโs family using the ACC. Apart from these, Sheikh Hasina is accused in over 450 politically motivated cases, mostly filed for murder.
Last month, Tulip sent a legal notice to Bangladeshโs self-proclaimed chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, and the ACC, asking them to stop conducting an โorchestrated campaignโ to damage her reputation and โinterfere with UK politics.โ
The legal letter accuses Yunus of unfairly influencing the inquiries through his remarks.
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She earlier challenged Yunus to sit with her in the British Parliament during his UK tour, but he skipped it.
On July 8, based on the writ petition of Khasruzzaman, a High Court bench ordered a stay on the case for three months and issued a rule asking as to why the case should not be quashed.
Later, ACC lawyers said they will appeal against the stay order.
What does the case say?
The ACC said in 1963, the then chief justice Imam Hossain Choudhury was allotted a plot measuring over 1 bigha in Gulshan (plot No. 11A and 11B at present).
Under the government’s 99-year lease agreement, any transfer or sub-sale of the plot was prohibited.
In 1973, however, Imam transferred the plot to Md Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan by public order. Mojibur then subdivided the plot and sold it to his wife Shamsun Nahar and sister-in-law Zarin Begum.
Later Shamsun Nahar sold the plot to the daughters of Jahurul Islam, the founding chairman of Eastern Housing, Naeema Islam and Kanita Islam. The two sisters gave their father, Jahurul power of attorney to oversee construction on the site.
Jahurul then split up the plot into two and started work on a six-storey building, but he died before it was completed. Later, Naeema and Kanita nominated their brother Manjurul Islam to pass the power of attorney, but it was cancelled due to an internal family dispute.
Manjurul Islam then took legal steps, while the sisters also filed a case to get their ownership of the building back. During the litigation, the sisters appealed to RAJUK seeking a prohibition on the transfer of flats.
According to the ACC, the then law advisors of RAJUK authorised the โunlawfulโ transfer of flats to Eastern Housing twice using โfalse information,โ though the company was not the owner of the land.
The ACC alleged the public administrator was appointed “with irregularity by abusing power” without complying with the conditions, and the plot was sold, divided, and transferred.
RAJUK summoned both parties in response to the application for the appointment of the chairman of Eastern Housing as an agent, but they failed to appear, and the agent was never approved, it said.
The case alleges that the plot was split into two, a building was erected on it, and 36 flats were sold or transferred. However, the transfer of ownership of Eastern Housing from “an individual person” to a legal person was “questionable,” according to the ACC.
This is where Tulip enters the scene, as the anti-graft watchdog says she facilitated the dividing and transferring of the 36 flats by breaching the rules.
Tulip received a flat โfor free as an illegal gratuityโ in exchange for the arrangement with Eastern Housing, ACC alleged, citing an Eastern Housing letter as โevidence of unlawfully taking advantage.โ
Tulip was fifth on the list among the flat owners sent to RAJUK by Eastern Housing. The ACC considered it โproof of Tulip illicitly using influence.โ
Citing an Eastern Housing letter to the city corporation, the ACC said Tulip has been occupying the flat since May 19, 2001, when Hasina was in power, and the UK MP has been paying holding tax since.
According to ACC documents, the total price of the plot stood at around 4.52 million. The company was shown to have paid only Tk 200,000 out of the garageโs price of Tk 600,000. But no receipt for the payment of Tk 200,000 was found. In other words, Tulip obtained a โfree registry documentโ for the flat.
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