ACC approves charges against former Air chief, his wife

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found that the children of former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal (retd.) Sheikh Abdul Hannan had amassed significant assets and businesses abroad, including in Canada, Dubai, and Qatar.

Meanwhile, the ACC has approved filing two separate cases against Sheikh Abdul Hannan and his wife, Tahmida Begum, over allegations of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income and conducting suspicious financial transactions.

The revelations came at a press conference held yesterday (Sunday) at the ACC headquarters in Dhaka. At the briefing, ACC Director General Akhter Hossain stated that the former air chief illegally acquired assets worth Tk 32.85 million  disproportionate to his known income.

Additionally, suspicious transactions amounting to over Tk 276.3 million  were detected across six of his bank accounts. The ACC alleges he abused his high-ranking government position to accumulate these illicit assets.

His wife, Tahmida Begum, is also implicated. According to the ACC, she, with her husband’s support, held over Tk 19.1 million in undeclared wealth. She also carried out transactions worth approximately Tk 11.8 million through 32 different bank accounts.

As part of an ongoing investigation, the court earlier imposed a travel ban on the couple. Additionally, 38 of their bank accounts have been frozen, and multiple luxury flats and plots of land in Dhaka’s upscale neighbourhoods have been seized.

Following an ACC petition, the court on 6 May this year ordered the confiscation of several of Sheikh Abdul Hannan’s flats and land holdings, along with the freezing of six of his bank accounts.