Benazir's family owns 345 bighas of land, wife with largest share

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found that former police chief Benazir Ahmed, his wife, children and several relatives altogether own about 114 acres or 345 bighas of land, with wife Zeeshan Mirza having the largest share.

This was revealed by a court order which was issued following an appeal by the ACC to seize Benazir Ahmed’s wealth.

The public prosecutor (PP) told the court that Benazir Ahmed faces allegations of amassing wealth worth millions of taka in his name, and in his wife and children’s names at home and abroad, beyond the known sources, through misusing power, irregularities and corruption, and that they earned this wealth illegally.

Earlier on 23 May, Ash-Shams Jaglul Hossain, a senior special metropolitan judge of Dhaka, ordered the seizure of all movable assets held by Benazir Ahmed and his wife and children, as well as freezing all bank accounts. They altogether have 33 accounts at various government and private banks.

Following the court order, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam told Prothom Alo the court ordered to seize 83 land purchase deeds. Documents shows there are about 114 acres or 345 bighas of land under these records. Benazir Ahmed owns 7.60 acres or 23 bighas of land, his wife Zeeshan Mirza owns 81 acres or 245 bighas of land while his three daughters and several relatives own the remaining 26 acres or 79 bighs of land.

Benazir Ahmed has three daughters; they are Farhin Rishta Binte Benazir, Tahseen Raisha Binte Benazir and Zara Zerin Binte Benazir. It, however, could not be learned how much three daughters share separately, but a document shows Farhin Rishta Binte Benazir owns over 13 acres or 39 bighas of land in Shahapur, Gopalganj.

According to ACC investigation, lands have been purchased in the name of Benazir Ahmed and his family members in several upazilas of Gopalganj, as well as Inani sea beach and St Martin Island of Cox’s Bazar and the prices of these lands have been shown a little over 161.5 million in the document. Incidentally, Benazir Ahmed is from Gopalganj.

The land has been purchased in the name of Zeeshan Mirza, who is the wife of Benazir Ahmed and managing director of the private company Southern Business Initiative. Nothing could be learned about the profession of Zeeshan Mirza while Benazir was in the office. When allegations of corruption surfaced, Benazir Ahmed said in a video message that his wife and children own fish farms. It is also learned later his wife and children are on the board of various companies.

Benazir Ahmed was the IGP from 15 April 2020 to 30 September 2022. He also served as commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and director general of the Rapid Action Battalion. The US imposed sanctions on seven former and current officials of RAB including Benazir Ahmed, IGP at the time, for human rights abuse in December 2021.

Allegations surfaced recently against Benazir Ahmed for accumulating a huge amount of wealth through corruption and irregularities. Later on 22 April, ACC secretary Khorsheda Yesmin said at a press conference that a three-member committee of the ACC opened a probe into the wealth of Benazir Ahmed. The next day, the court ordered the ACC to file the investigation report after two months.

The ACC filed the probe report to the court and also sought a seizure order on assets held by Benazir and his family members. The public prosecutors told the court that Benazir and his family were trying to sell or hand over their movable and immovable assets in order to launder money abroad.

Regarding this, former caretaker government advisor M Hafizuddin Khan told Prothom Alo it is impossible to amass such a huge amount of wealth with the salary from a government job. It can be assumed easily that Benazir Ahmed and his wife and children have owned such a huge wealth with illegal money. If the ACC investigates independently, the actual scenario will emerge, he added.