Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against sacked military officer and INTERPOL wanted convicted jihad funder Shahid Uddin Khan, his wife Farzana Anjum Khan and daughter on charges of illegal assets worth BDT 400 million. Earlier Dhaka court convicted Shahid Uddin Khan in income tax evasion case. Khan is on run since 2018 and has been living in the United Kingdom with his family.
According to media reports, Jalal Uddin Ahmed, Deputy Director of the ACC’s Integrated District Office-1 filed the case on April 26, 2022. The accused in the case are, sacked Colonel Shahid Uddin Khan, his wife Farzana Anjum Khan and two daughters Shehtaz Munasi Khan and Parisa Pinaj Khan.
ACC sources said, evidences have been found against Shahid Uddin Khan and his family members for amassing assets worth a total BDT 390.634 million. Illegally amassed assets are an apartment in Dhaka city’s Baridhara DOHS area, fixed deposit with Finance and Investment Limited worth BDT 260 million and another fixed deposit with Eastern Bank worth BDT 50 million. This family amassed such huge wealth without any valid source of income.
Earlier, ACC served notice on Shahid Uddin Khan, his wife and daughters asking to show evidence of source of income against the wealth they have amassed. But the sacked military officer and jihad funder failed to submit any response.
It may be mentioned here that sacked military officer Shahid Uddin Khan was earlier convicted to nine years in prison in a case related of dodging income tax worth BDT 168 million. Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-10 passed the verdict on December 20, 2020.
According to court documents, Assistant Tax Commissioner Sheikh Ali Hasan filed a case against sacked Colonel Shahid Uddin Khan with a Dhaka court on September 25, 2019 on charges of evading income tax of BDT 160.84 in three financial years. The charges were framed on September 26 of the same year.
Sources further said that sacked Colonel Shahid Uddin Khan has committed the crime of income tax evasion by concealing the information of income of BDT 7.41 million in the financial year 2014-15. And in the 2016-17 financial year, Shahid Uddin Khan was accused of evading income tax by concealing information of income of BDT 90 million. In the 2016-17 financial year, this jihad funder was accused of concealing information about his income of BDT 60 million. During the trial, eleven witnesses in the case were produced in court by the state.
The plaintiff in the case, Assistant Tax Commissioner Sheikh Ali Hasan, said in his statement that the accused Shahid Uddin Khan, despite being an ex-military officer, had concealed information about his actual income and expenditure and assets. He has hidden the information of his actual income and assets by giving false information in his income tax return. He also did not file income tax return in 2018-19 financial year. According to the information in the RG of the case, Shahid Uddin Khan had deposited BDT 10 million with eight banks in the 2015 financial year.
Following latest case pressed against Shahid Uddin Khan by the Anti-Corruption Commission, internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning anti-militancy journalist and editor of Blitz said, INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center (IFCACC), a launched wing of INTERPOL should begin investigation into the case of jihad-funder Shahid Uddin Khan.
He said, “We have already brought the matter to the attention of INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center (IFCACC) to this matter, and believe it will begin an investigation and due legal process against Shahid Uddin Khan and members of his family and ask the UK authorities to immediately extradite them to Bangladesh. For the sake of justice, Shahid Uddin Khan and his family members need to be sent back to Bangladesh and Britain should refrain from harboring such criminals”.
According to INTERPOL statement, the world police body has launched the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) to provide a coordinated global response against the exponential growth in transnational financial crime.
Fueled by ever-increasing globalization and digitalization, criminals are able to commit financial crime with increasing efficiency and sophistication, undermining global financial systems, impeding economic growth and causing huge losses to businesses and individuals worldwide.
A 2020 survey by consulting firm PwC of businesses in 99 territories showed that nearly half of all respondents had reportedly fallen victim to financial crime in the previous two years, with losses totaling USD 42 billion. In terms of volume, fraud is now the most prevalent form of criminality in some countries.
Corruption likewise adds to the complexity of the crime landscape, creating a fertile ground for organized criminal activities. The two crime types are inextricably linked, with both often relying on similar mechanisms to move and launder illicit funds, increasingly involving transnational organized crime groups.
According to a recent INTERPOL assessment, member countries reported that financial crime and corruption were among the top three threats they currently face.
