Former IGP Benazir denies corruption allegations

Published : Saturday, 20 April, 2024 at 11:03 PM Count : 4370

Former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed has denied the allegations three weeks after a national daily and a TV channel published sensational headlines alleging that he has accumulated huge wealth through illegal means.

In a video message posted on Facebook, Benazir on Saturday vehemently denied the allegations, terming those as "false and defamatory."

He said some very offensive, defamatory, untrue and distorted news items have been published in newspapers recently against him and his family members.

Benazir, who retired from service in 2022, said, "My family and my name have been falsely mentioned in reports published in newspapers."

He was a victim of propaganda by a group on social media from 2012 to 2014, he said, adding that he is victimised by such propaganda once again in his retired life.

"The information about my family's properties outside Dhaka is completely false, while my salary calculations are fictitious and inaccurate," he said.

He said that the 'propaganda' reports did not mention the correct amount of land of the agricultural farm his family owns in Gopalganj. All the land information is mentioned in tax files, he added.

"Besides, the national identity card numbers of my family members have been disclosed, which has done us serious damage," he said.

"I won't go into the discussion as to why this kind of news is suddenly getting circulated almost two years after my retirement. However, all the journalists and conscious people in the capital do already know the actual reason behind these reports," he said.

Benazir Ahmed said, "We have thoroughly reviewed the reports published in the media. It contains a total of 45 allegations and defamatory statements. Out of those, 24 allegations are completely false and imaginary."

"Two subjects were repeated seven times, and two pieces of information were presented distortedly in the wrong context. The remaining ten facts are inflated and misrepresented," he said.

A national daily recently reported that a huge amount of illegal assets belonging to former IGP Benazir Ahmed had been found, which triggered huge criticism.

The reports mentioned a lavish lifestyle of Benazir Ahmed, who also served as the director general of the Rapid Action Battalion from January 2015 to April 2020, and his holdings of shares in different companies.

According to the reports, his 'unusual assets' did not match with the legal sources of income of the former IGP, who received from the government ‘Shuddhachar Purashkar’—an award given based on 10 criteria, including honesty, morality, and proper financial management.

Of the assets, "Savannah Eco Resort" in Sahapur Union in Gopalganj is one that Benazir has built by spending a fortune and which has his wife Zeeshan Mirza as the chairman, their elder daughter Farhin Rista binte Benazir as the managing director, and their younger daughter Tahsin Raisa Binte Benazir as the director.

The media reports also claimed that the ownership of Benazir family members has been traced at least to six companies, which have an investment of over Tk 500 crore.

According to the reports, five of these companies were founded by Benazir himself: Savannah Farm Products, Savannah Agro Limited, Savannah Natural Park, Savannah Eco Resort, and Savannah Country Club, all in Gopalganj district.

The media reports have also brought allegations of encroaching forest land and building a resort in Gazipur, where Benazir's family owns a quarter of the resort.

Benazir owns expensive flats and houses in upscale areas of the capital, while his two daughters own 2,00,000 shares in Best Holdings and the five-star Le Méridien Dhaka hotel, according to media reports.

The former IGP also reportedly owns 418 decimals of land on Saint Martin’s Island, declared an ecologically critical area, in Cox's Bazar, media reports claim.

END/SZA

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