Sayeed khokon biography of martin luther

Bangladeshi businessman and politician

Sayeed Khokon is a Bangladeshi businessman, politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Dhaka-6 constituency. He was mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation from to ^[1] He is the executive member of the Bangladesh Awami League Central Committee.^[2] His father, Mohammad Hanif, was first elected mayor of Dhaka City Corporation.

He has been in hiding since the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government on 5 August

Early life

Khokon's father Mohammad Hanif was the first elected mayor of Dhaka.^[3]

Career

Khokon collected nomination form of Awami League on 24 March ^[4] He won in the first Dhaka South City Corporation election on 29 April ^[5]

On 26 July , Khokon blamed Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority for water logging problems in the city.^[6]

On 26 December , Khokon collected Dhaka South City Corporation nomination papers from Awami League.^[7] The nomination went to Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Khokon accordingly accepted the decision of the party and party president, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.^[8][9]

A case was filed against Sayeed Khokon and several other for allegedly embezzling m BDT by the Gulistan Fulbaria City Supermarket-2 owners' association president Md Delwar Hossain in December ^[10][11] The money had been paid for allocation of shops in block A between and which were later demolished for violating the original design of the complex.^[12] shops were demolished by the city corporation on 9 December.^[13]

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of Dhaka Court on 28 June order the accounts of Khokon and his wife, sister, and mother be frozen.^[14] The accounts were frozen after a request from the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Jalal Uddin Ahmed who was in charge of the investigation on Khokon.^[14] On 28 July , the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit sought information on accounts held by Khokon from banks in Bangladesh.^[15] He blamed his successor, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, for instigating the actions of the Anti Corruption Commission.^[16] Taposh did not respond to the allegations.^[17] He also alleged his successor kept millions of city corporation funds in Modhumoti Bank Limited, which Taposh owned.^[18][19] Two defamation suits were filed against Khokon for his comments about Taposh but Taposh himself called for their withdrawal.^[20][21][22]

Khokon was nominated by the Bangladesh Awami League to be the member of parliament for the Dhaka-6 constituency in the 12th National Parliament election.

On 7 January , he was elected by a huge margin. The election was reported by international observers to be a one-sided election because it was boycotted by all major opposition parties. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, Khokon's house was ransacked and looted.

He has gone into hiding ever since along with his family members.

Corruption

Sayeed Khokon was first accused of corruption when his tenure as mayor ended. Many shopkeepers in Dhaka South City Corporation complained that Sayeed Khokon personally took money from them to make their shop leases permanent. Instead of making the shops permanent, he embezzled the money which led to the shopkeepers losing their money.

He has been accused of misappropriating more than Tk. 1, crore from Islami Insurance Bangladesh Ltd. (a general insurance company). In , Khokon removed the then chairman Tofazzal Hossain from the board and made himself the chairman. Since then, Khokon has been the chairman of the company without any election. Additionally, eight directors of the company were removed by Khokon and he appointed his own family members as directors, including his wife, sister, wife's sister, sister's husband, two underage daughters and other close relatives.

Public companies have to keep two independent directors on their board, one of the independent directors is Javed Ahmed (his sister Shahana Hanif's husband) and the other is the son of Imran Ahmed (vice-chairman of the company). Another one of Khokon's uncles, Humayun Kabir, was also appointed as an independent director. Despite being absent from many board meetings, Khokon, his wife, sister-in-law, daughters, and sister would take fees for attending the board meetings.

Khokon also took a unilateral decision to sell the insurance company's two officers located in Purana Paltan & New Paltan, and shifted the company's office to a leased floor in his own building located in Banani.^[23]

References