Jumbangla Desk: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has received specific information about the dual citizenship of 24 persons who were ministers, advisors and members of parliament during different periods of the Awami League government. According to Article 66 of the current constitution of Bangladesh, a person who has acquired the citizenship of a foreign country cannot become a member of parliament or a minister.

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After the fall of the Awami League government in a mass coup on August 5, the ACC is investigating the illegal wealth acquisition and money laundering of 180 influential people.

In that investigation, ACC has so far received information about having dual citizenship or residence card of 24 people. Of the 24 people named in the inquiry, five are now in prison. The rest did not appear publicly after August 5.

According to sources involved in the ACC investigation, five former ministers and ministers of state have citizenship in the UK. They are Ahm Mustafa Kamal, Md. Tajul Islam, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and Md. Mahbub Ali Among them, Mahbub Ali was sent to jail after his arrest on September 15.

Seven parliamentarians including four former ministers and state ministers have US citizenship or green cards. Those whose names have come up in the ACC investigation so far are Abdus Shahid, Nasrul Hamid, Junaid Ahmed, Mohammad Ali Arafat, Abdus Sobhan Mia (Rose), Mahfuzur Rahman and Salahuddin Mahmud Zahid. Among them, former Agriculture Minister Abdus Shahid, former Information Technology Minister of State Junaid Ahmed and former Member of Parliament Abdus Sobhan are now in jail after being arrested in an operation by law enforcement agencies.

The ACC's search found the names of six people who hold Canadian citizenship. One of them is a former minister, the others are former members of parliament. Among them are Abdur Rahman, Mahbub Ul Alam Hanif, Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury (Naseem), Shamim Osman, Shafiqul Islam (Shimul) and Habib Hasan.

According to ACC information, former local government minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has Swiss citizenship and former railway minister Jillul Hakim has a residence card in Japan. Former Member of Parliament (Tangail-2 Constituency) Tanveer Hasan alias Chhota Monir is a citizen of Germany and former Member of Parliament (Mymensingh-11) MA Waheed has taken citizenship of Papua New Guinea.

Former ministers and members of parliament who have dual citizenship have smuggled huge sums of money abroad, ACC investigations have revealed. In this regard, ACC Director General (Prevention) Akhter Hossain said that work is underway on the matter. Action will be taken against those involved in money laundering.

Five of the 24 persons named in the ACC inquiry are now in jail. The rest did not appear publicly after August 5. Their mobile numbers are also blocked. There are rumors that many have left the country. Due to which their statement on dual citizenship could not be taken.

According to Article 66 of the current constitution of Bangladesh, a person who has acquired the citizenship of a foreign state or professes allegiance to a foreign state cannot become a member of parliament or a minister.

Zainul Abedin, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said that according to the existing constitution, no person having dual citizenship has the opportunity to be elected as a member of Parliament or to get a ministry. If this has been done by concealing the information, then it has been done against the law and the constitution.

Iftekharuzzaman, the head of Anti-Corruption Reform Commission, believes that those who have enjoyed the status and privileges of ministers and parliament members in the country with foreign citizenships have actually cheated the people.

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He said that their oath taking as minister-parliament member was illegal. Being a Minister-MP with dual citizenship is not surprising anymore. This is because the way political corruption, abuse of power and lawlessness have developed in the country, they have become normal. It is now necessary to ensure exemplary punishment of those influencers who hide information and cheat.

Source: Prothom Alo