Staff Correspondent

Former Second Secretary Mehraj ul Alam Samrat has followed the path of 'corrupt' National Board of Revenue (NBR) former First Secretary Kazi Abu Mahmud Faisal. This young official is very cunning in corruption. Faisal got caught in the net of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) by making huge wealth in the name of wife, mother-in-law, brother-in-law. But the emperor walking the same path is still elusive.

There are allegations that he has done various manipulations to legitimize unaccounted assets of crores of rupees. Has resorted to fraud. Housewives turn wives and mother-in-law into 'money laundering machines'. Close people say - not only in name, but in fact he is known as the 'emperor' of corruption and forgery in customs! However, the former Chhatra League leader of Chittagong University, Samrat, received the 'Suddhachar Award' in the fiscal year 2020-21 in recognition of his practice of purity.

The ACC probe found evidence of his illegal wealth and fraud allegations, but it remains 'on file'. Influential circles are lobbying to end the complaints. At the same time, he joined the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a 6-month loan on June 23 to deal with the adverse situation. Jugantar's investigation has found the mentioned information based on the documents received from the ACC.

When asked, Assistant Director of the ACC Atiya Tama told the representative, "As the complaint against Mehraj ul Alam Samrat is at the investigation stage, I cannot make any comment." Aktarul suggested contact with Islam. In response to a question, he said, 'There is no pressure on me. I am continuing to work.'

During the investigation, the reporter reviewed the personal files of the emperor, the income tax records of his wife and mother-in-law, and the documents related to the complaints submitted to the ACC. It is seen that after passing BCS 30th batch, he joined Customs cadre on June 3, 2012. Former leader of Chittagong University Chhatra League, Samrat served in various important commissionerates including Chittagong Customs House. During this, he was the Second Secretary of the Customs Department of NBR for 2 years. The agency's Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) was also appointed. Then there was a storm of criticism inside and outside NBR. Because those accused of bribery and corruption are usually not posted in the CIC.

The incident of bribery and corruption of the emperor also came to the fore when the tension started over the allegations of corruption in ACC and the uproar over the Benazir-Matiur issue. Even his clean chit award was called into question when there was an uproar over his appearance at the ACC hearing. In this situation, he joined ADB with a lien to keep himself out of controversy.

There are allegations that the Emperor got involved in bribery and corruption while he was in the Chittagong Customs House. After that, wife Nasheed Ali and mother-in-law Rokeya started building property in the name of Begum.

He opened income tax file in the name of his mother-in-law on November 15, 2013, the year after joining the service to launder the black money earned through illegal means. From the year 14, the land of Cox's Bazar area started showing in his file. Similarly, the income tax file of the wife also increases the property. One of the complaints that the ACC is investigating is that Samrat bought a land in the name of his mother-in-law for at least Tk 16 crore in Magnama Mauza of Pekua Upazila of Cox's Bazar with the intention of building a resort in the future. During the investigation of this complaint, it was seen in the income tax file of Rokeya Begum, mother-in-law of the Emperor, filed in 2021, Magnama Mauza has 24.304 percent of land in 1995 khatian, 8.597 percent in 2016 khatian, 87.5 percent and 2.75 percent of land in 77 and 83 khatian respectively.

It is mentioned in the income tax file that Rokeya Begum got this land through inheritance.

However, the surprising information is that in the same year, in the income tax file of wife Nasheeda Ali, the land of the same khatian has been mentioned as having been inherited. In this case, the land of the wife is more than that of the mother-in-law in each khatian. 57.232 percent in the 1995 khatian, 19.399 percent in the 2016 khatian and 111.25 percent in the 77 and 83 khatian are shown in the name of the wife.

Apart from this, both the mother-in-law and the wife's files show the same amount of 7.25 percent land in 999, 857 and 979 khatian. It is alleged that to legitimize the emperor's illegal money, the land was bought in the name of the mother-in-law and then transferred to the name of the wife. These lands were not shown while opening income tax of mother-in-law in 2013. For some mysterious reason, the permanent address of the income tax file of the mother-in-law was shown as the house number 94 Nizam Road in the Panchlaish area of Chittagong instead of Pekua in Cox's Bazar. And the emperor's mobile number was used in the mother-in-law's tin file.

It is also known that Samrat bought a 2 thousand 372 square feet apartment in the name of his wife in the luxurious 'Navana Lupin' high-rise building located at 297/D of Road No. 15 in Bashundhara residential area. The price of the elite building including swimming pool is 14 thousand taka per square foot 3 crore 32 lakh 8 thousand. But the deed value shown in the income tax file is only 84 lakh 38 thousand 200 taka.

Tk 2 crore 47 lakh 69 thousand 800 has been falsely declared here. For the wife and mother-in-law, 100 gold ornaments were bought from two famous jewelers in Dhaka at the cost of crores of rupees. These ornaments are shown as wedding gifts in income tax files. The emperor also resorted to fraud to show the source of income of his wife and mother-in-law. Mother-in-law's annual income from salt farming in Cox's Bazar is shown as Tk 10 lakh. The wife's income tax file also shows an income of Tk 10 lakh from the same business. In reality their salt farming business was found to be non-existent. In addition, even though the wife does not do any job, her annual income is shown as 2 lakh 43 thousand 454 taka in the salary section. Thus wife and mother-in-law are being used as money laundering machines.

Bank records revealed further instances of embezzlement by the Emperor. On February 15, 2022, Samrat opened a benami account in Padma Bank in the name of Janaik Hasan, a resident of Bashundhara residential area, and made an FDR of Tk 50 lakhs. Hasan's permanent address is Comilla. However, Samrat's mobile number was used to open the account. Earlier, on December 28 and 29, 2021, Samrat made three FDRs of taka. Also, huge sums of money have been deposited in Shahjalal Islami Bank and United Commercial Bank. Different mobile numbers in the name of the Emperor were also used to open those accounts. According to the relevant sources, ACC investigation officer will get all information related to benami account only by taking information through Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BAIU) on the basis of mobile number.

BRTA documents show that Samrat has resorted to corruption and fraud in vehicle registration as well. The Hyundai Tucson model luxury car he bought (Dhaka Metro G-21-5152) is registered in the name of mother-in-law Rokeya Begum.

The owner's home address mentions the emperor's holding of Bashundhara's apartment. And the mobile number used in TIN communication is fake. Md. The mobile number was picked up with the NID of a young man named Imran Ibn Manju. Manju's home is Rangpur. And the emperor's mobile number has been used in place of the tax token. And the Premio model car used by wife Nasheed Ali (Dhaka Metro G-26-3192) was bought in her name with a loan from a financial institution. Besides, there is an FDR of Tk 10 lakh in wife's name in UCB Bank.

When asked about these matters, Mehraj Ul Alam Samrat told this correspondent, "When I was in charge of the CIC, a group complained against me to the SEC, being offended by my work. It is still under investigation. I've been called by the ACC. But the allegations against me are false.

In the name of my wife and mother-in-law, I got a place in Cox's Bazar through the inheritance of my in-laws. There is no dispute about it. In response to the question, how did you get a salary of more or less one crore taka in the name of your wife in Bashundhara? In response to the question, what is the source of the FDR of Tk 50 lakh made in Padma Bank on the same day, he said, 'I did not make FDR of Tk 50 lakh. Who is AF using my mobile number?