Chattogram City suspends 2, relieves 3 others of duties over Tk40crore revenue evasion
The suspended officials are Nurul Alam, tax officer of the revenue department, and Joy Prakash Sen, deputy tax officer. Accounts assistants Manjur Morshed, Ruposi Rani Dey, and Ahsan Ullah have been relieved of their duties
The Chattogram City Corporation has suspended two tax officers and relieved three accounts assistants of their duties for allegedly manipulating field books to evade around Tk40crore in revenue from two companies.
Mayor Dr Shahadat Hossain took the disciplinary actions through four separate office orders on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) team raided the CCC office today (23 October) as part of its investigation into the irregularities. "We are still conducting the operation and cannot comment at the moment," said ACC Assistant Director Sayed Alam.
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The suspended officials are Nurul Alam, tax officer of the revenue department, and Joy Prakash Sen, deputy tax officer. Accounts assistants Manjur Morshed, Ruposi Rani Dey, and Ahsan Ullah have been relieved of their duties.
Investigations revealed that the annual property assessments of two companies – Ishaq Brothers Industries Ltd and Incontrade Ltd – were deliberately altered to show lower values. The amounts recorded in the field books were changed from Tk26crore and Tk25crore to Tk6crore and Tk5crore respectively, resulting in an estimated Tk40crore revenue loss for the city corporation.
Following confirmation of the allegations in an internal probe report, the mayor imposed the punitive measures. According to the order, the officers were suspended under the 2019 CCC Employment Regulations after preliminary evidence of fraud and manipulation in property assessments was found.
The order also stated that the suspended officers will receive subsistence allowances as per rules during their suspension.
Mayor Dr Shahadat Hossain said, "We took immediate action to ensure transparency in the corporation and to send a clear message that corruption or irregularities will not be tolerated. No one will be spared if found involved in malpractice."
The mayor also instructed the chief revenue officer to reassess the properties of the two companies and hold a fresh hearing before the appeal review board to finalise the corrected valuations.
