JS to decide fate of Papul soon

A decision on parliament membership of Mohammad Shahid Islam alias Kazi Papul is likely to be made in two to three days, around three weeks after a Kuwait court sentenced him to four years in prison in a bribery case.

The independent lawmaker from Lakshmipur-2 was also fined 1.97 million Kuwaiti dinars (Tk 55 crore) by the court in the case on January 28.

The copy of the verdict on his conviction reached Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Thursday, and the process of taking action against the convicted lawmaker began.

"We received the copy of the verdict Thursday. We will evaluate the matter in line with the constitution and the rules of procedure of parliament," she told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon.

Zafar Ahmed Khan, senior secretary of the Parliament Secretariat, said it might take two to three days to complete the process of taking a decision on the matter.

Earlier yesterday, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said his ministry received the 61-page verdict -- both in Arabic and English -- and sent it to the Jatiya Sangsad speaker and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Like in Bangladesh, it takes some time to write the full verdict in Kuwait. Besides, it also took a while to secure it from the court in the Middle East country, he said.

"We were under heavy pressure because the media often ask us about it. The honourable speaker also often calls us. Therefore, we had appointed a lawyer to get the copy of the verdict fast, through our ambassador in Kuwait," he told reporters after an event titled "WE Colorful Fest 2021" organised by Women and E-commerce Forum at Purbachal Club.

Papul was staying in Kuwait as a businessman. He neither had diplomatic passport nor did he seek any assistance from Bangladesh mission in Kuwait as he had good connections over there, Momen said when asked if the government was providing any legal assistance to Papul.

Kuwait's criminal court delivered the verdict on January 28, around eight months after Kuwait's Criminal Investigation Department arrested Papul, the managing director and CEO of Marafie Kuwaitia Group.

He was accused of human trafficking, money laundering and bribing Kuwaiti officials with millions of dollars to recruit Bangladeshi workers and get contracts for his company, labour exploitation and also violation of the residence law.

The others sentenced in the case include Kuwait interior ministry's Assistant Under-Secretary Maj Gen Mazen Al-Jarrah, and Nawaf Al-Mutairi, Hassan Al-Khader and Papul's associate Mohammad Rashidul Islam, a Bangladeshi.

Papul faces two more cases -- one on human trafficking and the other on money laundering -- in Kuwait.

He is also being investigated by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations of amassing Tk 1,400 crore by trafficking people to Kuwait and laundering money to different countries.

Asked whether Papul's parliament membership will be revoked, Zafar said Article 66 of the constitution says there are several provisions under which an MP will be disqualified from being a member of parliament.

One of the provisions says: "A person shall be disqualified for election as, or for being, a member of Parliament who has been, on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release."

"As he [Papul] has been sentenced to four years' imprisonment, the parliament will take decision in light of this," Zafar mentioned.

The same article says in case of any dispute over vacating membership of the respective MP, it shall be referred to the Election Commission to hear and determine it and the decision of the commission on such reference shall be final.

A top official of the parliament secretariat said according to the rules of procedure of parliament, if any MP is detained, sentenced, released on bail or otherwise released, the authorities concerned will inform the matter to the speaker of parliament.

The speaker will then inform the matter to parliament if it is in session. If parliament is not in session, the speaker will inform the MPs through a letter.

Zafar said it is the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad who will make the final decision in line with the constitution and the rules of procedure of parliament.

Asked whether the MP will be extradited from Kuwait, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, "It mostly depends on the Kuwaiti government and the court that convicted Shahid Islam".

"We are not thinking about this [bringing him home] at this moment," he told this newspaper yesterday.

He, however, said case proceedings against the MP in Bangladesh would continue and that the law would take its own course.

'CRIMES, POWER ABUSE' BY PAPUL

Quoting Arabic newspaper Al Qabas, Kuwaiti news portal The Times reported that Papul is estimated to have obtained KD5 million in assets in Kuwait. During investigations, all his bank accounts and that of his company were frozen.

According to sources in Kuwait and Lakshmipur, Papul went to Kuwait in 1989 as a worker and eventually started working as a recruitment broker and later established companies. He ran four companies involved in providing cleaners through government contracts in Kuwait, employing 9,000 workers.

Sources in Kuwait and Lakshmipur said he had no involvement in politics back home before 2016, but had earned a huge amount of money by then through illegal means.

Papul invested crores of taka to prevent other potential candidates in the Lakshmipur-2 constituency and became an independent MP in the 2018 national election. His wife Selina Islam did the same to become an MP from the reserved seats for women.

According to witness accounts in the case against Papul, he was part of an "organised gang" made up of two Kuwaitis and Papul. They used a company to recruit workers from Bangladesh by fraudulent means in exchange for payments ranging between KD2,500 and KD2,700 for each, reported The Times.

The trio occupied sensitive positions in three major companies that took over 20,000 Bangladeshi workers to Kuwait in exchange for more than KD50 million. Although the company was closed due to legal violations, the workers landed in Kuwait to discover their visas were fake. They were forcibly employed in another company owned by Papul.

Eleven Bangladeshis taken to Kuwait by Papul testified to the court about the exploitation. The workers were charged money for renewing residency visas and even forced to work against their will for long working hours in inhumane working conditions without wages or were provided with inadequate housing facilities.

Papul also allegedly attacked those who objected to his views and threatened them with false cases.

Some Bangladeshis, who worked as Kuwait correspondents for media outlets in Bangladesh, told The Daily Star that they faced unlawful deportation for reporting on misdeeds of Papul. Papul played a part in their deportations, they claimed.

"Papul had very good ties with the then officials of the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait," a Bangladeshi in Kuwait said.

Back home, in response to a complaint filed on February 16 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission opened an inquiry into an allegation that Papul amassed Tk 1,400 crore by trafficking people to Kuwait and laundered the money to different countries.

The ACC said the inquiry was to look into the charges of loan forgery and money laundering by the NRB Commercial Bank Director Kazi Papul, his wife Selina, their daughter Kazi Wafa Islam and Selina's sister Jesmin.

On July 17 last year, the ACC imposed a ban on all of their foreign travels, saying the embargo would be implemented for Papul after his return to the country.

Later on November 11, the anti-graft watchdog filed a case against Papul, Selina, Wafa and Jesmin for allegedly laundering about Tk 148.41 crore. The inquiry is still pending.

On December 28, a Dhaka Court ordered the freezing of 617 bank accounts and 92 deeds of immoveable properties of Papul, following a petition filed by the ACC.