TDS Desk:

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday said former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed will be brought home back if he is found guilty.

“The trail of accused Benazir will continue on graft charges even if he stays abroad. If he is convicted, he will have to return home. The government will not show any mercy,’ he told a press conference at AL president’s Dhanmondi political office in Dhaka.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is conducting a probe into the alleged graft of Benazir Ahmed and following the legal procedures.

“So, why will the government take measures excitedly avoiding the ACC? The government will consider whether its anti-graft bodies have any failure,” he said.

Responding to a statement of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the AL general secretary said an individual can commit corruption but the thing is – how the government considers that corrupt.

“I want to ask a question to Mirza Fakhrul – who from the government sent Benazir abroad? Who saw off him at the airport? Which authorities of the government were involved?” he said.

Quader said after 1975, no ruler or government showed the courage to take steps against the corrupt but the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government has shown its courage by doing so.

During the BNP’s tenure, he said, the culture of money laundering was introduced in the country. “When BNP assumed power, its leaders got involved in festival of illegal wealth accumulation. This is the established truth at home and abroad,” he added.

The road transport and bridges minister said when BNP assumed power in 2001, the party institutionalised graft in the country, while Bangladesh was champion in corruption five times in a row.

By siphoning off millions of Taka abroad, convicted fugitive Tarique Rahman (BNP acting chairman) has been leading a luxurious life aboard, he said.

At the onset of the press conference, Quader in his written speech said corruption is found in all countries but nobody from home and abroad can claim that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government show tolerance to graft.

He said Sheikh Hasina is an absolutely honest politician and it has been recognised globally and her industry and honest lifestyle are behind her popularity.

AL organising secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, its science and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur and deputy office secretary Sayem Khan were, among others, present at the press conference. Source: BSS