Not submitting wealth info: Charges framed against BNP leader Aslam
A Dhaka court today framed charges against BNP Joint Secretary General Mohammad Aslam Chowdhury in a case filed against him for not submitting his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission within the stipulated time.
Aslam Chowdhury, now in jail custody, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge Arafat Hossain of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka read out the charges to him.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Before that, the judge dismissed the petition submitted for discharging him from the charges of the case.
The judge fixed July 10 for starting trial of the case.
On June 1, Aslam was shown arrested in the case after the prosecution submitted an application in this regard.
On March 28, Judge Md Asaduzzaman of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court accepted the charges against Aslam in his absence and issued an arrest warrant against him, although Aslam is in jail in other cases.
ACC Deputy Director Md Jahangir Alam, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court on December 29 last year.
On December 24 of 2019, ACC Deputy Director Md Nasir Uddin filed the case against the BNP leader with its integrated district office-1 in Dhaka.
According to the statement of the case, the ACC launched an investigation against Aslam and his wife Jamila Naznin Maola, residents of South Bhatiary under Sitakunda upazila in Chattogram, over amassing hundreds of crores in cash beyond known sources of income.
On May 13 of 2019, Ritwik Saha, a deputy director of the anti-graft body, issued a notice through the Chattogram jail authority asking Aslam to submit the statements of his wealth within seven days. The authority then served the notice upon Aslam on June 23 that year.
On July 1 that year, Aslam sought three months' time to submit his wealth statements to the ACC.
Following the application, the ACC gave him 36 days for submitting his wealth statements.
Aslam on August 19 of 2019 submitted another application, seeking three more months in this regard.
But the ACC on October 15 that year informed the BNP joint secretary general through the jail authorities that no further time would be granted and it decided to file a case against him.