Kazi Papul's JS seat to be announced vacant, if found to be Kuwait citizen: PM 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Laxmipur-2 constituency will be announced vacant, if Mohammad Shahid Islam Papul alias Kazi Papul is found to have citizenship of Kuwait.

"Concerned authorities are  investigating into the allegations against Papul," the premier said in the parliament today, Independent TV reports.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Kuwaiti authorities detained Papul to face money laundering and human trafficking charges as a "local resident" of the Middle Eastern country as he was on a visit there without using the diplomatic or official passport".

"Kuwaiti authority arrested Papul not as a Bangladesh MP, rather as a Kuwaiti businessman as he was engaged in business there for nearly three decades," the minister added.

It has been one month since Kuwait arrested Kazi Papul, an independent lawmaker of Laxmipur-2, for involvement in human trafficking, money laundering, illegal visa trade and bribery. 

Papul was picked up from his rented house in the country on the night of June 6. 

The public prosecution department will produce him before court on July 9, and seek extension to his imprisonment. 

Shahid Islam Papul runs the Marafie Kuwaitia Group as managing director and CEO and has five million dinars in assets in Kuwait.

Sources revealed that he has four companies in Kuwait, working in general trade, contracting and cleaning of streets and buildings.

Two Kuwaiti lawmakers have been indicted, while three others are likely to be charged in connection with Papul.