ACC seeks court order to seize CRI trust income tax records in Special Judge Court application

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has applied for an order to seize the income tax records of the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) trust, run by eight people including Sajeev Wazed Joy, Saima Wazed, Radwan Mujib Siddik, Nasrul Hamid (Bipu) and A H M Mostafa Kamal.

ACC assistant director A K M Mahbub Ali Sagar filed the application in the Special Judge Court on Wednesday (28 October). ACC deputy director Aktarul Islam confirmed the information in the afternoon.

The ACC said a trustee institution was opened in the name of CRI, and former prime minister's son Sajeev Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed, Sheikh Rehana's son Radwan Mujib Siddik, former minister Nasrul Hamid (Bipu), A H M Mostafa Kamal and others allegedly raised crores of taka in donations together, did not pay tax on that money, and embezzled and laundered it.

The application named as CRI trustees Sajeev Ahmed Wazed Joy, Saima Wazed, Radwan Mujib Siddik, Nasrul Hamid (Bipu), Shakil Bin Shams, Rowshan Ara Akter, Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and A H M Mostafa Kamal.

For the investigation of the ACC case, the application sought an order from the court to seize all related records, including the permanent and miscellaneous parts of CRI's income tax files at Circle-116, Tax Zone-6, Dhaka, from the beginning up to the 2025-2026 tax year, the ACC said.

In the court application, the case plaintiff said the trustees dishonestly formed a nominal CRI in the name of public welfare. The application said an SRO was issued to give illegal tax benefits even though the institution did no public welfare work and was not registered with the Department of Social Services.

The application also said donations were taken by pressuring various companies, and Tk 45,52,95,000 was taken from 23 companies into CRI's account. It claimed a total of Tk 100,51,43,486 was illegally earned from the 2013-2014 tax year to the 2023-2024 tax year.

According to the application, Tk 15,88,51,221 of that income was embezzled. It said Tk 247,85,06,170.87 was deposited and Tk 129,91,53,051.68 was withdrawn through 23 bank accounts.

The application also mentioned total transactions of Tk 401,06,12,880.71 in the 23 accounts and government loss caused by not paying Tk 36,72,751 in income tax.

The application said a case was filed over the incident under sections 409 and 109 of the Penal Code, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.

The plaintiff also said an investigating officer had been appointed for the case. For a fair investigation, it was essential to seize and review all related records, including the permanent and miscellaneous parts of CRI's income tax files at Circle-116, Tax Zone-6, Dhaka, the application said.

For that reason, the plaintiff requested the court to order the seizure of all related records, including the permanent and miscellaneous parts of CRI's income tax files.