In 2018, the ACC began investigating allegations of illegal wealth acquisition by former Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shamsuddoha Khandkar and his wife Ferdausi Sultana Khandkar. ACC filed a case against them in 2019 after finding the truth of the allegation of acquiring wealth outside the known income.

After five years of investigation, on Tuesday (July 2), two separate charge sheets were submitted against the two in the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka Metropolis.

ACC said in the charge sheet, Shamsuddoha resorted to corruption by abusing his power while he was a government official. He premeditated to legitimize the illegal income earned through corruption. Much more money than his own salary and allowances is deposited in various bank accounts opened in the name of his wife Ferdowsi Sultana.

His wife is a housewife. The amount of money deposited as wife's bank is Tk 41 crore 29 lakh more than his salary. And 21 crore 5 lakh taka is deposited as shamsuddohar bank.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against the duo in court on charges of acquiring assets outside of known income and money laundering. It shows this picture of proceeds of crime. It is also said that both of them have accumulated a huge amount of money in the bank.

ACC has received information about Tk 29 crore deposited in three banks of Shamsuddoha. Two months before retirement (December 30, 2015), Shamsuddoha opened an account in a private bank in Dhaka. As of April 28, 2022, about 14 crores and 14 lakhs have been deposited into that account.

According to the ACC, a loan of Tk 7.9 million was taken from the Nawabganj branch of a bank in the name of Organic Agro Farms, a company jointly owned by Shamsuddoha and his wife. 1 crore 3 million taka was spent on the infrastructure of the institution. The rest of the money is transferred to his wife's bank account.

ACC has not found any organization called Organic Agro Farms. which has been reported to the court. According to the ACC, from 2012 to 2022, Shamsuddohar's transactions as a bank, excluding loan amount, amounted to a little over Tk 21 crore.

According to the ACC chargesheet, these transactions are not commensurate with his emoluments as a public servant. He did not submit any evidence to the ACC as to the source of the money for this transaction as a bank.

According to the ACC charge sheet, Shamsuddoha's wife Ferdausi Sultana has no source of income. However, information and evidence of depositing 41 crore 29 lakh taka as his six banks have been found. A private bank account was opened in his name on November 29, 2012. Till April 25, 2022, about 35 crore 28 lakh taka has been deposited in that account alone.

It is said in the charge sheet that the accounts mentioned by Ferdowsi Sultana in the income tax documents from 2012-13 to 2019-20 are not acceptable.

Four children of Shamsuddoha and Ferdausi. ACC says that they have taught the children in English medium school. Three have taught in UK, USA and Canada. The wealth that Shamsuddoha and his wife have acquired by paying for their children's education and household expenses is beyond known income.

Ferdowsi cited her husband's overseas jobs, her own three-year job in the UK, income from agricultural farms and businesses and her mother's donation, sale of land and flats as sources of wealth in her asset declaration submitted to the ACC. However, the ACC told the court that Ferdowsi did not submit the evidence in favor of these sources. Evidence was not received from Shamsuddoha either.

The ACC told the court that Shamsuddoha and Ferdowsi were served notices of detention to submit their affidavits. They did not give any statement and did not submit any documents. According to the chargesheet, Ferdowsi's unusual bank transactions were traced to her husband Shamsuddoha's ill-gotten gains.

ACC Public Prosecutor (PP) Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said that the case of a former additional IGP rank government servant and his wife dealing huge amount of money as a bank is unusual. ACC has submitted evidence to the court to prove the charges.

Meanwhile, Shamsuddoha has been occupying a government house on road number 135 in Gulshan for a long time. The government housing department issued a notice to him on May 15 to vacate the house within seven days. But housing department sources say, he did not leave the house.

Shamsuddoha joined the police force in 1986 as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). He was promoted as Additional IGP in 2011. He was appointed as the Chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) by the government in 2011. At that time, he was accused of unlimited irregularities, corruption and arbitrariness. Then in 2015, he was removed from the post of chairman of BIWTA. He retired from the police force on March 3, 2016.

On the other hand, ACC has traced the huge wealth of former IGP of Police Benazir Ahmed and his family. Those assets have been seized by court order. In the meantime, the charge sheet was given against the former Additional IGP Shamsuddoha.