Golden Monir cheated using mother, wife’s names too

Monir Hossain aka "Golden Monir" –  arrested over amassing huge illegal wealth – allegedly resorted not only to gold smuggling and land grabbing but also to legalising crores of taka by making fake donations to his mother and wife.

Reportedly, he showed in the official document that the money had been donated to his wife and mother by some other persons. But those characters had no physical existence. Even his mother and wife did not know about the donations.

The information has been revealed in an investigation by a government agency.

According to sources with the agency, Monir made fake documents and gave around Tk2 crore as well as plots and flats to the names of his mother, Aisha Begum, and wife, Rawson Ara, to legalise it.

In the form of donation from non-existent people, around Tk1.25 crore had been deposited against Rawson Ara and around Tk65 lakh against Aisha in 1989-90.

To have this illegal work done at various times, Monir allegedly bribed some government officials. He also "gifted" expensive cars to the officials to carry on his illegal activities of smuggling and grabbing safely.

RAB spokesperson Lt Col Ashique Billah on Monday said some government agencies like National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) are working together on the issue.

Responding to a question, he said, "If we get an allegation of land grabbing from any victim, we will obviously give legal assistance to them."

According to Monir's income tax file and RAB source, he has six business establishments in the capital: Golden Gear, Monir Trading international, Monir Builders, Gulf Auto Cars, Grand Zam Zam Tower, Sodesh Properties, Urmi Jewellery Shop, and Auto Car Selection.

Using the name of these business establishments, he laundered a large sum of money abroad. Even though Monir only showed the income of Sodesh Properties on the document, he never did it for his other establishments.

The source said, to manage high officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), Monir took allocation of 7 plots in Purbachal New Town project and grabbed 90.25-katha plots (---) at Uttara and 39 plots in the DIT project.

Monir has a total of 202 plots worth Tk200 crore in Dhaka, of which 192 plots are in the Badda area, and a 70-Katha plot, and two schools in Nikunja and Merul Badda. Monir is also the owner of Safa Tower in Uttara, which is currently under construction.

There is an allegation that he has been constructing the multi-storied building flouting the building code.

At different times, there were complaints about his irregularities. Many committees were formed too, but Monir would cover up it allegedly by bribing the investigators a large sum of money.

Earlier on Saturday, RAB arrested him from his residence at Merul Badda in the capital.