A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to confiscate properties worth Tk 343 crore owned by Mosaddeq Ali Falu, an advisor to BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and his wife Mahbuba Sultana.
Dhaka Metropolitan Session Court acting Judge Al Mamun passed the order under the Money Laundering Act.
Earlier, ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar filed a petition with the court to freeze illegal property of Falu and his wife. Both Falu and his wife now remain on the run officially. The anti-graft body found that the former BNP lawmaker amassed illegal wealth for malicious purposes through abuse of power and corruption during BNP-Jamaat led four-party alliance government.
On May 13 this year, ACC filed a case against Falu, his wife and two others on charges of money laundering. Meanwhile, the ACC confiscated all the properties of Falu and his wife. ACC Deputy Director (Public Relations) Pranab Kumer Bhattachariya said the ACC confiscated all the properties of Falu and his wife following a court order.
The ACC Deputy Director said, “As per the court order, Falu and his wife will not be able to transfer any of their properties to anybody else.” The ACC sources said, the ACC in 2017 had filed two separate petitions before the court seeking orders to confiscate properties of Falu and his wife Mahbuba Sultana. The court on Thursday approved those petitions.
According to the ACC, properties of Falu, which have been confiscated, include 67 decimals of land at two places in capital’s Uttarkhan, 45 decimals of land at Boro Maghbazar, 18 decimals of land at two places in Kakrail, 82 decimals of land at the capital’s outskirt Baunia, 6.5 decimals of land at Tejgaon Industrial Area, two flats at Kakrail and Dakkhin Shahjahanpur and two shops at Bangabandhu Avenue.
Besides, all the shares of NTV, Roza Agro Ltd, Roza Properties Ltd and Star Porcelain Pvt LTd have also been confiscated. On the other hand, the properties of Falu’s wife Mahbuba Sultana, which have been confiscated, include a six-storey building at Gulshan and all the shares of NTV, Roza Agro Ltd and MAH Securities Ltd.
