Five more witnesses testify in Benazir corruption case, taking total heard to 44 of 47

Five more witnesses have testified in the case filed against former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed on charges of amassing illegal wealth. With them, the court has now finished recording the testimony of 44 of the case's 47 witnesses.

The witnesses gave their depositions on Thursday (12 November) before Judge Abdullah Al Mamun of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-5. As the accused is absconding, however, the witnesses could not be cross-examined on his behalf.

After recording the depositions, the court set 19 November as the date for recording further testimony. Sohanur Rahman, bench assistant of the court concerned, confirmed the information.

The five who testified on Thursday were Prime Bank FAVP Md Kader Hossain, Standard Chartered Bank manager Rajiur Rahman Zahid, United Commercial Bank FAVP Md Enamul Haque, police headquarters ASI Md Al Amin and former Bandarban additional deputy commissioner S. M. Manjurul Haque.

Earlier, on 3 May, the same court ordered the trial to begin by framing charges in the case.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said that at the testimony stage of the case, the investigating officer found new information about accused Benazir Ahmed buying a house in the United States. The earlier chargesheet contained no information about the bank transactions for the house purchase. The investigating officer has therefore filed a supplementary chargesheet, in which both the amount of money and the number of witnesses have been increased.

ACC deputy director Hafizul Islam filed the case as complainant on 15 December 2024. After the investigation, he submitted a chargesheet against Benazir Ahmed on charges of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income, concealing wealth information and money laundering.

According to the chargesheet, Benazir Ahmed declared immovable assets worth Tk 6 crore 45 lakh 37 thousand 365 and movable assets worth Tk 5 crore 74 lakh 89 thousand 966 in the wealth statement he submitted. The investigation, however, found evidence of immovable assets worth Tk 7 crore 52 lakh 68 thousand 987 and movable assets worth Tk 8 crore 15 lakh 31 thousand 264 in his name, giving a total of Tk 15 crore 68 lakh in acquired assets.

According to the chargesheet, his known sources of income amounted to Tk 6 crore 59 lakh 42 thousand 668, from which, after expenses, his net savings stood at Tk 4 crore 63 lakh 56 thousand 675. Benazir Ahmed is therefore alleged to have amassed Tk 11 crore 4 lakh 43 thousand 576 in wealth beyond his known sources of income.

The chargesheet further states that Benazir Ahmed concealed the illegal source, nature and ownership of this money and invested, transferred and converted it through various bank accounts, business establishments and joint-venture companies.

While the trial was under way, investigating officer Hafizul Islam filed a supplementary chargesheet against the accused on 7 October. That chargesheet states that Benazir Ahmed, his wife and his daughter amassed a total of Tk 78 crore 40 lakh 16 thousand 895 in wealth beyond known sources of income at home and abroad. The supplementary chargesheet raised the total number of witnesses to 47.