Govt employee becomes billionaire!

His salary is not more than Tk 30,000, but he rides a Harrier car and owns five houses in Dhaka's Uttara by his and his wife’s name. He has also been able to buy a house in Sydney, Australia.

The man is Md Abzal Hossain, accounts officer of the Directorate General of Health Services (medical education).

According to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the government employee owns at least 24 residential plots and flats in the country. The market value of these assets is over Tk 10 billion.

His wife Rubina Khanam is a former stenographer at the DGHS (education and public health).

Several officials of the directorate said to Prothom Alo that it requires a magic for a man in Abzal’s position to own such wealth.

The ACC has interrogated Abzal on Thursday and his wife is to be interrogated next Thursday. The health ministry has already sent a letter to the DGHS to take action against him.

Earlier, the ACC issued an embargo on Abzal and Rubina’s going abroad.

ACC found Abzal and his family had more than 28 trips in several countries including Singapore, Australia in past one year.  A Sydney flat owned by Abzal worth more than Tk 10 million.

Two of Abzal’s children studied in Sydney till last year while another is still studying there. Six of his family members are working at different positions at the DGHS. 

The directorate officials said, Abzal got involved in 'tender business' by setting up a broker house and making license for his wife. They also hinted that he had complicity with senior officials of the health ministry, influential brokers and suppliers.

Abzal, however, ruled out all allegations brought against him.

 “The allegations are all false. Everything will be clearer once the ACC investigation is over,” Abzal told Prothom Alo.

Apart from Abzal, the ACC probed director of the health services Anisur Rahman on Monday over a similar kind of allegation. Two more directors were called for interrogation by the anti-graft commission.

Executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Iftekharuzzaman, said that such a large scale corruption is not possible except the influentials' backing.

*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Imam Hossain and Nusrat Nowrin.