Monirul Hoque

Days before Monirul Hoque Shakoo would take oath as the mayor of Comilla City Corporation for a second consecutive term, ground has been made for his suspension.

A Dhaka court yesterday accepted the charge sheet in a corruption case filed against him in 2008. It also issued an arrest warrant for the BNP leader.

The acceptance of the charge sheet has created a scope for the government to suspend Shakoo, who won the Comilla mayor polls on March 30.

According to Section 12 and 13 of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009, a mayor or a councillor, if convicted or charge sheeted in criminal cases, can be suspended. The act also says any elected representative can be removed from office for skipping three consecutive general meetings without any valid reason.

However, it seems that the Local Government Division under the LGRD ministry has all along been strict only while enforcing the act in cases involving elected representatives backed by the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

In recent years, several mayors, upazila chairmen and vice chairmen loyal to the BNP and the Jamaat were suspended after they had been indicted in similar criminal cases.

Using the law, the government has recently suspended two pro-BNP mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet city corporations, Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and Ariful Huq Chowdhury, twice.

Pro-BNP city mayors of Gazipur MA Mannan and Moniruzzaman Moni of Khulna were suspended as well.

However, all of them regained their mayoral posts as court stayed their suspension orders.

The country has 11 city corporations, of which the mayors of six belong to the BNP while the others are backed by the ruling Awami League.

Resigning from his post on February 8 for contesting for a second term, BNP sponsored mayoral candidate Shakoo defeated ruling Awami League candidate Anjum Sultana Shima in the March 30 city polls by over 10,000 votes.

Election Commission sources said the EC yesterday issued a gazette notification, paving the way for his taking oath as the Comilla city mayor.

About Shakoo's oath taking, a senior official of LGRD ministry had told The Daily Star that the ministry would make preparations for the oath taking ceremony after the issuance of the gazette.

About the arrest warrant for Shakoo, his personal assistant Kabir Hossain Mazumder told this newspaper that the BNP leader had already obtained permanent bail from High Court in the case.

Yesterday, Judge Kamrul Hossain Molla of the Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order after accepting charges brought against Shakoo.

The court, however, dismissed the charges against Shakoo's wife.

The court directed the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to submit by May 9 an execution report on the arrest warrant against the BNP leader.

Shahin Ara Momtaz, an assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, filed the case against the mayor and his wife with Ramna Police Station on January 7 of 2008, for their alleged involvement in amassing Tk 4.57 crore illegally and concealing wealth statement of Tk 1.12 crore.

Later, they got a “limited term” bail from the HC on different dates.

Talking to The Daily Star, Additional Public Prosecutor Taposh Kumar Paul said Shakoo got bail from the HC on July 2 of 2009 for eight weeks and later on April 28 of 2010, his bail was extended for six months.

However, Shakoo did not submit any petition to any court for extending the bail again. So, the bail was cancelled in 2010, he said.

On August 13 of 2008, Afroza Jasmine gave a statement before a magistrate. She claimed that the money which was found in her accounts was deposited by her husband, Taposh said. 

After an investigation, Shahin Ara Momtaz submitted a charge sheet against Shakoo on February 4 last year as the charges brought against him were found to be true.

She, however, appealed to the court to relieve his wife as the charge against her was not proved.

According to the charge sheet, Shakoo acquired Tk 4, 57,73,933 illegally and concealed wealth statement of Tk 1,12,40,120 to the ACC and he deposited Tk 3 crore in his wife's accounts.