Mosaddek Ali Falu

Mosaddek Ali Falu

Alhaj Mosaddek Ali Falu (b. 7 April 1960[1]) is a Bangladeshi politician[2] and a former parliamentarian from BNP.[3] He served as the political adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia[4] between 2001 and 2006. He was in jail[2][4] on grounds of corruption[2] between 2007 and 2008,[2] and is currently out on bail[5]

Contents

Political career

Political adviser to the Prime Minister

Falu began his career in politics as the political adviser to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.[4] He became a close companion to the Prime Minister, earning her trust.[6] Evidence of this closeness includes Falu being delegated important duties[6] and accompanying Khaleda Zia during her umrahs,[7] among others.

Parliamentarian

In light of Khaleda's two-way loyalty strategy[6] Falu was allowed to contest for the 2004 by-election of the Dhaka-10 constituency when BNP parliamentarian M A Mannan's defection to Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh meant that the seat was vacant (defection from a political party automatically results in the parliament seat to be vacated under Article 70 of the Constitution[8]). Falu won the elections, but the polls were considered to be sham by most observers,[9][10] and according to WikiLeaks, including the United States.[6]

He was sworn in hastily, only after 30 minutes of the release of the official gazette, raising questions.[11] It takes at least 6 hours to prepare for oath-taking after the release of a gazette, and swear-ins from other by-elections were held about a week after official results.[11]

Corruption charges

Following the resignation of Iajuddin Ahmed's caretaker government in January 2007 and the ascension of an army-backed caretaker government, Falu was among the first of many to be arrested on corruption charges - he was arrested on 5 February 2007.[2][4] Soon after his arrest, 15 spotted deers reared illegally were retrieved from Falu's retreat in Savar,[12] and his Savar retreat was ultimately valued at 153 crore taka ($ 22.5 million).[citation needed] He was further charged on multiple counts.[clarification needed]

Falu was found guilty on charges of relief embezzlement[13] on June 2, 2008, after spending over a year in prison. He was sentenced 5 years in prison and a fine of 5.35 lakh taka ($ 7,133) or a further one year.[13] The special court convened within parliament campus.[13]

While in jail, he was entitled to division by virtue of being a former parliamentarian. However, he lost division in December 2008 when he was found to have held a meeting with another politician, Islami Oikya Jote leader Mufti Shahidul Islam at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.[14] Previously, an i-Pod was confiscated from him. He was then sent to Kashimpur jail as a common prisoner. On 18 December 2008, the High Court ruled Falu's detention illegal and ordered bail.[5] He was released on 22 December.[5]

While on bail, Falu tried to make a trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with his family in February 2009, and was denied exit by the immigration police.[15]

In another lawsuit regarding the accumulation of wealth illegally and withholding information on assets, the Court halted grafts case[16] and asked the government to explain why the lawsuit should not be scrapped.[16]

He was granted anticipatory bail on another relief embezzlement charge in August 2010.[17]

Post-caretaker government

Mosaddek Ali Falu continued to be a close aide of Khaleda Zia after Zia and Falu were released from prison and the caretaker regime ended. He was selected into the advisory council, now consisting of 32 members,[18] following the Fifth National Council of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.[19][20] He was a regular part of Zia's entourage to umrah while she was Prime Minister; he continued to accompany her for umrah to Saudi Arabia during September 2010[7] and April 2011.[21]

It was rumored in late 2010 that Falu had submitted a resignation letter to exempt himself from the advisory council[18] soon after he was appointed. It is believed that clash with other influential party leaders and expectation of a more important post prompted the resignation.[18] Zia had neither received the resignation, nor had Falu withdrawn it. Although Falu denied sending any such letters, Falu was never seen active in politics since then.[18]

Business

Falu is the managing director of the private Bengali language channel NTV since 2001, and the Chairman since 2003.[1] Among other businesses he also owns the Bengali language newspaper Amar Desh.[15] Given that NTV's news is avidly followed in the country, Falu can be considered a media mogul.

He also is the chairman of a large private sector bank in the country. His industrial investments include a joint venture with China for manufacturing ceramics, steel fabrication manufacturing company, health care, and consumer products manufacturing company.[1]

Share scam

The probe committee of the 2011 share market scam in Bangladesh identified Mosaddek Ali Falu among the 20 individuals involved in masterminding the scam to their personal benefits;[22][23] specific evidences were available against Falu according to the report.[22] The probe committee found Falu, among others, to operate multiple omnibus accounts used perform the chicanery.[24] However, the Finance Minister AMA Muhith stated that the state would neither disclose the names of the accused officially nor take punitive measures without further investigation.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Profile of Top Management". International Television Channel Ltd. (NTV). http://www.ntvbd.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=52. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "Falu stripped of division for hospital meet". The Daily Star. December 8, 2008. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=66665. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  3. ^ "List of Members of 8th Parliament of Bangladesh Jatiyo Sangsad". Bangladesh Parliament. http://www.parliament.gov.bd/M_P%20List-300.pdf. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  4. ^ a b c d Affairs, National Democratic Institute for International (11). NDI ELECTION WATCH BANGLADESH. pp. 2. http://www.ndi.org/files/2117_bd_watch4_021107_0.pdf. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c "Falu freed on bail". bdnews24.com. 22 December 2008. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=121131&cid=3. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  6. ^ a b c d "Thomas termed Khaleda lazy, Tarique notorious". The Daily Sun. 9 September 2011. http://www.daily-sun.com/print_news.php?path=data_files/2011/09/09/329&cat_id=1&menu_id=1&news_type_id=1&news_id=68656. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  7. ^ a b "Khaleda makes ziarat of Rawza Mubarak of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)". Financial Express. September 4, 2010. http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=111136&date=2010-09-04. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  8. ^ Bangladesh Constitution. 4. pp. Article 70. http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/bangladesh-constitution.pdf. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  9. ^ Hussain, Ahmede (July 16, 2004). "One Flew over Falu's Nest". Star Weekend Magazine. http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2004/07/03/politics.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  10. ^ "AL walks out as talks on by-polls denied". Bangladesh Web. 5 July 2004. http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=13515. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  11. ^ a b Shahidul Islam (4 July 2004). "Swearing in of Falu in haste raises many questions". Bangladesh Web. http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=13398. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  12. ^ "15 spotted deer captured in Falu's retreat". bdnews24.com. 2 March 2007. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=53996&cid=2. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  13. ^ a b c "Former BNP MP Falu jailed for relief embezzlement". bdnews24.com. 1 June 2008. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=104870&cid=3. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  14. ^ "Falu stripped of division for hospital meet". The Daily Star. 8 December 2008. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=66665. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  15. ^ a b "Falu, ex-min Altaf stopped at airport". bdnews24.com. 17 February 2009. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=128546&cid=3. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  16. ^ a b "HC halts graft cases against Falu, Hashem". bdnews24.com. 20 July 2009. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=138359&cid=2. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  17. ^ "Milan's pleas rejected, Falu gets bail,". bdnews24.com. 4 August 2010. http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=169849&cid=2. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  18. ^ a b c d Suman, Rakib Hasnet (14 August 2010). "Falu seeks to quit his job". The Daily Star. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=150695. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  19. ^ "NEW COMMITTEE". Bangladesh Nationalist Party. http://www.bnp-bd.com/page.php?4. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  20. ^ "History of Bangladesh Nationalist Party". real nationalist. http://welovebnp.webs.com/historyofbnp.htm. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  21. ^ "Khaleda says juma prayers at Al-Masjid al-Haram". bdnews24.com. 1 April 2011. http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=3&id=191627. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  22. ^ a b c Karim, Anwarul (8 April 2011). "Probe report mentions 20 masterminds of stock-market scam". Banglanews24.com. http://www.banglanews24.com/English/detailsnews.php?nssl=b7bc207b68ea9a373b68fbff4f6fdf49&nttl=2011091218279. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  23. ^ "Further probe needed before action: Muhith". The Daily New Age. 9 April 2011. http://www.dailynewage.com/wap/newage.php?expage=details&pageid=17228. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  24. ^ Rejaul Karim Byron; Md Fazlur Rahman (9 April 2011). "Finger pointed at 60 individuals". The Daily Star. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=181073. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 

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