Former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed will not be granted any further extension beyond June 23 to appear before the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for questioning regarding allegations of amassing illegal wealth.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan on Thursday said, “If he (Benazir) fails to appear by the due date, legal action as per the law will follow.”
The ACC lawyer came up with the remarks while talking to the media at the Supreme Court premises.
Benazir Ahmed was initially scheduled to appear before the anti-graft body on 6 June. However, the ACC investigation team extended the deadline to 23 June following a request from the former IGP’s lawyer, seeking an additional 15 days to respond to the summons
notice. Khurshid Alam noted that investigations against former IGP Benazir Ahmed and his family members concerning a substantial amount of assets beyond their known income are progressing in a full swing.
He further said evidence of additional illegal assets has been found against Benazir, and the ACC plans to soon petition the court to confiscate these assets.
The ACC has been investigating the assets of former IGP Benazir Ahmed and his family. Amidst this investigation, he left the country with his family on May 4.
Benazir Ahmed served as IGP from April 2020 to September 2022 and as the Director General of RAB from January 2015 to April 2020. He also held the position of Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for a long time.
ACC prosecutors said investigation into the assets of Benazir Ahmed’s family is ongoing. The court has ordered the seizure of the discovered assets so far. Recently, the ACC found information about eight more flats in Dhaka in the name of Benazir Ahmed and his family. Six of these flats are in a building in Adabor, Dhaka, and two in Badda, located in a 14-story building named Rupayan Limited Square, which are commercial or office spaces.
In total, 12 flats in Dhaka have been found in the name of Benazir Ahmed’s family, with the earlier discovery of four flats in Gulshan.
Following an application by the ACC, Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan, Mohammad Assams Zagul Hossain, recently ordered the seizure of eight flats belonging to Benazir Ahmed’s family. Additionally, the court ordered the seizure of approximately 76 bighas (25 acres) of land and the shares of private Citizen Television and Tiger Craft Apparels Limited.
Previously, the court had ordered the seizure of 621 bighas of land in Gopalganj, Madaripur, Cox’s Bazar, and Savar in Dhaka, shares of 19 companies, and four flats in Gulshan in two phases in the name of Benazir Ahmed and his family.
At that time, the court also ordered the freezing of Tk 3 million in savings certificates, 33 bank accounts, and three BO accounts (beneficiary owner’s accounts for share trading). In total, 697 bighas of land have been found in the name of Benazir Ahmed’s family.
