ACC sues BCB Director Lokman, online casino kingpin Salim

ACC sues BCB Director Lokman, online casino kingpin Salim

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan and online casino kingpin Salim Prodhan on charges of amassing illegal wealth.

Two separate cases were filed against the two at the anti-graft watchdog's Integrated District Office 1 in Dhaka, Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, public relations officer (PRO) at ACC told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.

In the case, Lokman and Salim were accused of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk4.34 crore and Tk12, 27 crore, respectively.

October 23, ACC filed two separate cases against Awami League Gandaria unit Vice President Enamul Haque Enu, and his brother Rupom Chowdhury, general secretary of the same unit, and their associates, Harun ur Rashid and Abul Kalam Azad.

On October 21, the anti-graft body filed the cases against Golam Kibria Shamim alias GK Shamim and former Jubo League leader Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan for amassing illegal wealth.

ACC Deputy Director M Salauddin filed a case against GK Shamim and his mother Ayesha Akhter for amassing nearly Tk297.09 crore illegally.

Another case was filed against expelled Jubo League leader Khaled Bhuiyan by ACC Deputy Director Jahangir Alam for illegally amassing Tk55,815,859.

On September 26, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Lokman, also the Mohammedan Sporting Club director-in-charge from his residence at Monipuripara area in Tejgaon.

On September 22, police had seized two roulette tables and nine betting boards from the Mohammedan club's premises. They had also found 12 walkie-talkies, knives and money counting machines.

According to media reports, since the raid, Lokman had claimed that he was forced to rent the club’s room for gambling activities facing “political pressure.”

The raids were carried out as part of the law enforcement agencies’ ongoing clampdown on illegal gambling establishments and casinos in the capital and elsewhere, which started on September 18.

On September 30, Salim was arrested from a Bangkok-bound Thai Airways flight at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

RAB then raided his office cum residence in Gulshan, and arrested Salim’s associates Aktaruzzaman, Md Roman, and Masum.

RAB also recovered 48 bottles of foreign liquor, Tk2,905,000 in local currency, foreign currencies of 23 different countries worth Tk7,763,023, 12 passports, 32 cheque books of 13 banks, one large server used in game operating, four laptops, and two deer hides.

On October 1, Salim and the three were jailed for six months under the Wildlife Conservation Act by a mobile court.