The invincible Shajahan Khan

Shajahan Khan joined Awami League, shifting away from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jashod). The former lawmaker, popularly known as a workers’ leader, is now a presidium member of the Awami League (AL). A member of the parliament (MP) for eight consecutive times, he also served as the shipping minister in two separate terms of the AL government.

In Madaripur, he established ‘Khan-League’ using his own gang. Even the AL leaders and activists were pushed aside due to the complete dominance of the Khan family. He established sole supremacy in almost all government and private organisations through his brother and relatives. He would control everything – land grabbing, commission business, extortion and tenders of government projects.

Shajahan Khan was the MP from the Madaripur-2 constituency. His family feels he cannot be replaced in Madaripur. No government project would see light without the permission of the Khan family in Sadar and Rajoir upazilas of the district.

Madaripur is also home to Awami League joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim. The two leaders’ rifts have always stirred discussion and debate throughout the last 16 years of the AL rule. Taking advantage of his popularity as a transport workers’ leader, he gradually reached the helm of extortion in the transport sector over the last 15 years and established formidable control over this "toll" collection.

Shajahan Khan formed a platform named ‘Muktijuddher Chetana Bastabayan Mancha’ (platform to uphold the spirit of liberation war) in 2013. He became the president of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Liberation War affairs. He was accused of providing certificates to non-freedom-fighters in exchange for money.

In 2015, he formed another organisation - Freedom Fighter Workers, Employees, Professionals Coordination Council. Lastly in July and August, he and former liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque together formed ‘Muktijoddha Santan and Projanma Samannay Parishad’ (a platform of descendants of freedom fighters) to contain the mass uprising of people and students.

According to the affidavit that Shahjahan Khan submitted to the Election Commission (EC) before the general polls held in January this year, Shajahan Khan’s assets multiplied 32 times in the last 15 years. All his businesses, including the Sarbick Construction, Sarbick Shipping Line Chattogram, Sarbick International Hotel and Sarbick Petrol Pump are registered in the name of his relatives.

Sarbick Paribahan, one of the major transport companies on the Madaripur-Dhaka and Dhaka-Barishal routes, is owned by him. The company operates more than 200 coaches now. The former minister’s son Asibur Rahman is the managing director of the company.

Shajahan and his family went into hiding after the fall of the AL government in the face of the mass uprising of people and students. Later on 5 and 26 September, Shajahan Khan and his son Asibur were arrested by the law enforcement agencies in the capital’s Dhanmondi and the airport areas respectively.

Shajahan Khan got involved in student politics in 1964 for the first time. Later, after the independence, he became the president of Madaripur District Road Transport Workers Union in 1972. He also joined Jashod at the same time and became the joint convener of its Madaripur district unit. He was elected a member of the parliament for the first time in 1986 as an independent candidate.

In 1991, he left Jashod and joined the AL. He has been a MP in each parliament ever since. He also served as the shipping minister for 10 consecutive years from 2009.

It has been learnt that his relation with the local party leaders and activists fell apart as he never gave any opportunity to anybody other than his family and relatives in almost all the local government elections held in between. As a result, the top leaders of Madaripur district AL refrained from joining his electoral campaign before the 12th parliamentary election despite him having the party nomination.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Madaripur district Awami League general secretary Kajal Krishna Dey said, “Shajahan Khan was never an Awami Leaguer. He always worked in his own interest. He used his power to repress and torture and the party was divided over this for a long time.”

Once, Shajahan Khan’s cousin Pavelur Rahman, two-time upazila chairman and organising secretary of district Awami League, had complete control over the syndicates. However, following a dispute with his cousin, Shajahan Khan made his brother Obaidur Rahman the upazila chairman influencing the upazila polls. Obaidur was also the president of the District Bar Association and had massive influence in the court arena. Whenever someone went against his brother, Obaidur would make that person accused in false cases to harass him or her.

Hafizur Rahman Khan is another brother of Shajahan Khan. He is the president of Madaripur Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Hafizur, known to locals as 'Nana', controlled various government and private offices including and the business syndicate of the district. He is also the head of the contracting firm Sarbick Construction. The company would get 80 per cent of the development projects in Madaripur. Hafizur had absolute control in several administrative offices and government organisations including the Passport Office, BRTA, Sub-Registrar’s Office, DC (deputy commissioner) Office and several police stations. No file would pass in these offices without paying a commission to the people appointed by Hafizur.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a shopkeeper from the Passport Office area said, “Most of the agents at the passport office were from Shajahan Khan’s clan. They would submit the documents of their clients quickly using the power of Shajahan Khan and his brothers. They would take Tk 1,000-1,500 as commission from each client.”

Hafizur’s aide Akter Hossain was in charge of collecting commissions from the Land Acquisition Section under the DC office. On the day of the fall of the AL government, the agitated mob attacked and vandalised the house of this agent listed by the district administration too. He is on the run at the moment.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Shajahan Khan’s cousin Pavelur Rahman said, “Although I was involved in politics with him for a long time, I had no affiliation with his business or his assets. Nothing was possible without his approval in the district when he was minister. He also intervened in government job recruitments.”

“The local AL activists never got any help from him. He created a syndicate led by his brothers, son and relatives to control everything here,” he added.

During the last upazila polls he made his son Asibur a chairman candidate going against the party decision and ensured his win using his power. Asibur also became the president of the Madaripur Bus Owners Association later backed by his father.

While serving as the shipping minister, Shajahan Khan initiated a foundation in his father’s name which does not have any office. It would organise a big event every year where ministers of the government and industrialists were invited as guests.

Sources say Shajahan Khan collected more than Tk 20 billion through this foundation while serving as the shipping minister. However, it never was involved in any voluntary or social activities other than organising a medical campaign for the cleft lip and palate patients once a year. There are allegations that Shajahan Khan forced various business groups to provide money for the foundation.

Willing to be unnamed, a local business owner told Prothom Alo, “I had to pay Tk 1 million to that foundation as commission in exchange of contract for a big project. Had I not paid the money, it would have been impossible to complete the project. Even though I didn't want to, I had to pay the money because I was scared.”

Speaking regarding the allegations, Rony Khan, an official of the foundation said, “The regular activities of the organisation are shut down now. He (Shajahan Khan) himself would take care of everything here. So only he could say what this foundation is about and what its activities are.”

Shajahan Khan said several times while addressing different rallies that he arranged jobs for at least 3,000 workers at different organisations including the BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authorities) and BIWTC (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation). However, there are allegations that Shajahan Khan and his brothers took Tk 800,000-1,200,000 for each job. Locals say Ranjit Banik, the special assistant of the former minister, used to look after recruitment business.

Ranjit Banik, however, refuted the claim saying, “A number of youths got jobs through Shajahan Khan while he was a minister. However, no money was taken from any of them.”

But an employee at BIWTC in Madaripur said, “I got the job in 2016. But my family had to pay Ranjit Tk 1 million in cash for that. However, I got the job. So I don’t have any complaints.”

Accusations of running a massive recruitment business surfaced against Shajahan Khan’s son Asibur Rahman Khan and wife Syeda Rokeya Begum during his time at the ministry.

Abdur Rashid runs a ship repair and river dredging business under the shipping ministry. He also owns ships that operate on different routes. Shajahan Khan created the scope for him to construct a ‘dry dock’ in the port areas of Chattogram occupying the river Karnaphuli. The former minister even became a guest at Rashid’s home in Cumilla.

Outside politics, Shajahan Khan’s main identity is that he is a leader of the transport workers. He is the president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, a national organisation of workers across the country. Although a workers’ leader, his family run a transport business under the name of Sarbick Paribahan.

He was a member of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and its advisory council during the last term of the ousted AL government. The main objectives of these two bodies were to reinstate order on the roads and stop the extortion culture in the sector. At the same time, he pulled strings behind the extortion rackets in the transport sector. He was always vocal on demands that defied road safety standards.

The practice of openly collecting Tk 70 as extortion from each vehicle began in 2009. Some Tk 40 if that goes to the owners association, Tk 10 to the workers’ union and Tk 10 to the federation. Only the remaining 10 would be used for road safety purposes. Overall, extortion money of at least Tk 18.85 billion was raised from this sector a year on average, concerned persons said.

Transport sector sources say there is no such rule of collecting money in the name of the federation. Shajahan Khan nevertheless took Tk 10 from each transport using the name of federation for years. Apart from this, the 249 Workers’ Unions under the federation also collected Tk 10 from each vehicle as extortion every day across the country.

BRTA (Bangladesh Road Transport Authority) sources say the number of registered vehicles, including buses, trucks, covered vans, human-haulers and auto-rickshaws, in the country is more than 600,000. As such, the total amount of money collected in the name of transport workers stands at Tk 12.5 million. However, the workers did not get any sort of help during the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, several worker leaders said sacks full of the money from the extortion would be taken to the federation head office in Motijheel every night. That building, where the head office is housed in, is also owned by the Khan family.

Speaking to the government officials from different departments and contractors in Madaripur, it has been learned that the Shajahan Khan’s brother Hafizur Rahman would decide who would get the contracts of different projects under different directorates of the government and administration, including the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Water Development Board (WDB), Education Engineering Department, Department of Public Works, Health Engineering Department and the municipalities. The contractors had to pay him some 10-20 per cent of the total allocation as commissions.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, listed LGED contractor Murad Hossain said whenever a tender the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) was called, he (Hafizur) would not let anyone get the contract. Rather, he would grab the contract and would always keep some four to five shareholders behind him. He earned at least Tk 500 million from the RHD tenders alone in the last five years, he said.

However, LGED executive engineer Badal Kirtania said, “The entire process of bidding tenders has been digitised. So there is no scope of any irregularities here. I don’t know anything about taking commissions.”

According to the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission (EC) ahead of the general elections of 2008, Shajahan Khan’s annual income was Tk 685,000. He showed an annual income of Tk 22.1 million in the affidavit submitted before the 12th parliamentary election, which means his income multiplied 32 times in 15 years. His movable assets increased five times at the same time. Shajahan Khan didn’t declare any movable assets except two cars and 80 bhori of gold in his wife’s name. But he had two buses, a car, a microbus and 15 bhori of gold.

Shajahan Khan and his wife also have some arable and fallow lands registered in their name. Besides, they also own a building worth nearly Tk 600 million and other similar establishments. He even became owner of flats and lands through donations. There is a 10-katha plot of RAJUK registered in his wife’s name in addition to other movable assets.

But it has been learnt that his two sons and daughter have huge assets in different parts of the country including Madaripur, Shariatpur, Dhaka and Tangail. The brand name of their family business is ‘Sarbick’. The family also runs different businesses under the same name including hotel, transport and construction businesses. However, the declared assets on the affidavits are never checked in most cases. Many feel that the family owns much more than that mentioned in the election affidavit.

Shajahan Khan started flexing his muscles after becoming shipping minister 15 years ago. His and his family members’ wealth started to grow since then. He bought lands, established multi-storey buildings, markets and business establishments in different wards of Madaripur pourashava, mostly in the names of his wife, children and brothers.

Local sources said Hafizur Rahman has land, 16 shops on leased land on vested property and a jute mill in ward no. 8 in the pourashava. He has temporary shops on one-acre land in ward no. 7, two multi-storey buildings, a duplex house, two commercial buildings, a luxury five-storey hotel and restaurant in ward no. 6. Shahjahan Khan owns a 10-storey building in the same area. Obaidur Rahman, another brother of Shajahan, owns two multi-storey houses. Shajahan's younger son Shams Khan owns five-storey new building in front of the police station. Next to it is Hafizur Rahman's and the Khan family's jointly-owned hospital, a land in Puran Bazar in ward no. 3. He also owns land and houses at Chaurasta and Kulpoddi areas in ward 5 of the pourashava.

Mahbubur Rahman, a resident of College Road, said Hafizur would buy any land he liked in the town, exerting his clout. He would also buy the disputed lands at lower prices and erect signboards. None would dare to speak up.

Prothom Alo spoke with previous owners of three lands that were bought by Hafizur. None of them wanted to be named. They claimed that Hafizur used his influence to buy the disputed land at Tk 30 million. However, the market price of the land is around Tk 100 million.

None from Shajahan Khan’s family was available for a comment on the huge wealth of the family. Locals said Shajahan’s two brothers and many of his relatives have fled the country. Shajahan Khan and his elder son Asibur are now in jail.

Shajahan Khan’s 10-storey building was torched in the afternoon on 5 August, the day of Awami League government’s fall. Among other properties, four buildings, two business establishments, hotel and restaurants belonging to Hafizur and Obaidur Rahman Khan were set ablaze. However, Shajahan Khan and his brothers went into hiding beforehand. Laborers have recently started repairing the damaged business establishments and luxury houses.

Gopal Halder, manager of the business establishment named Sarbick, told Prothom Alo, “We are working at the behest of the owners. They suffered extensive damage. We’ve resumed operation of transport, pump and hotel and cleared debris from the residential building. We are trying to start everything afresh.”

During a field visit on 5 October, it was seen that Sarbick petrol pump, transport and hotel businesses have already resumed.

Shochetan Nagorik Committee’s Madaripur chapter president Khan Mohammad Shahid told Prothom Alo that the huge wealth of Shajahan Khan and his family can easily be seen. Everyone is taken aback by such a sea change of a people’s representative in 15 years. However, none dared to speak. Not only in the case of Shajahan Khan, corruption and irregularities were rampant in the country due to lack of accountability.

He demanded such politicians be brought to book and their illegal wealth confiscated by the state.