‘Never knew I own shares in bus company’

Nur Alam Milon, now in his late 50s, says he has never been to Sreepur of Gazipur. The man from Kamargram village in Faridpur’s Alphadanga upazila has also never heard of Moumita Paribahan Limited, a Dhaka-based transport company.
But tax returns filed in his name show he owns eight bighas of land in Sreepur’s Kewa Mouza and has 1,000 shares in the transport line that operates between Savar and Narayanganj.
The company, where former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia’s wife Afroza Zaman is chairman and their eldest son Asif Shahadat is a director, has 140 buses.
“By God, I know nothing about Moumita Paribahan, let along holding its share. I do not have any land in Gazipur either. I also never filed tax returns,” he told The Daily Star at his village home on August 30.
Nur Alam is Afroza’s brother, and investigators currently looking into the Asaduzzaman family’s wealth are trying to track down the source of Nur Alam’s wealth.
An ordinary man, Nur Alam lives with his family in his ancestral home in Kamargram. His eldest son is a migrant worker in Malaysia. Nur Alam himself was a migrant worker in Bahrain from 1997 to 2008.
“I struggle to support my family with the little income from the lease money against my ancestral land and the rent from a shop in local Gopalpur Bazar,” he said
But a 2022-23 tax return filed in his name shows he has wealth worth over Tk 1.77 crore. The signature used in his tax file does not match with his bank account signature, seen by The Daily Star. 
“Someone else may have used my name. I don’t know who,” he said, looking clueless.
His tax return was filed in Khulna, where Nur Alam says he never lived and where Asaduzzaman was deputy inspector general of police in 2007-2009. 
Multiple police sources speaking on condition of anonymity said Asaduzzaman Mia is behind it all. According to them, the former cop bought various properties in the name of his family members and relatives to keep his hands clean.
For example, his brother-in-law Harichur Rahman Shohan and nephew Ibrahim Sheikh now have properties and businesses worth at least Tk 24 crore, according to documents and relevant sources.
Like Nur Alam’s, the tax return of Ibrahim was filed from Khulna although he was a Union Parishad member in Faridpur from 2005-2021. According to his 2022-23 tax return, he has wealth worth Tk 1.17 crore, but again the signature in his tax file does not match with the signature he officially used during a meeting when he was a union parishad member.   
Ibrahim, who is also under the ACC scanner, runs a multipurpose cooperative called “Sahuj Chhaya” at Gopalpur Bazar in Alfadanga. The investment for the high-interest rate microcredit business came from Asaduzzaman – a subject of an ongoing ACC investigation.
A source who has direct knowledge of the ongoing ACC investigation into Asaduzzaman family’s “illegal wealth” said Ibrahim was likely involved in collecting money, on Asaduzzaman’s behalf, from local people in return for jobs in police force and elsewhere.
He did not respond to our calls and text messages over the last two weeks.
Harichur Rahman Sohan, Asaduzzaman’s brother-in-law, used to look after the former DMP chief’s interest in Dhaka, according to sources in police and transport sector, where Asaduzzaman’s family has investment.
Sohan had gone to Saudi Arabia as a migrant worker in 2010, returning home in just two years almost empty handed, at least 10 villagers told The Daily Star.
The man now owns gold business, transport business, 43 decimals of land in Faridpur’s Alphadanga municipality and at least one flat in Dhaka’s Shantibagh.
Their combined estimated value would be around TK 10 crore, according to gold and transport business insiders and co-flat owners.    
A former business partner of Sohan said most of Sohan’s investment come from the Mia family as he looks after their business interest.
Documents show that the 43-year-old has shares in two bus companies in Dhaka — Gulshan Chaka (1,000 shares) and Moumita Transport Limited (1,500 shares) – where Asaduzzaman’s wife, son and other family members and relatives also have investments.
Sohan also once held 25 percent shares in the now-defunct Modhumoti Paribahan Limited, according to a former business partner, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Each of these company was set up and their route permit obtained when Asaduzzaman, as the DMP commissioner, was the head of Regional Transport Committee (RTC), which is responsible for allowing route permit. Asaduzzaman was DMP chief from January 7, 2015 to September 13, 2019.
In May this year, Sohan bought 43 decimals of land in Alphadanga municipality whose deed price was shown Tk 42.26 lakh. But locals said the current land price in that prime location is not less than Tk 4 crore.
He also owns a flat in “Shantibagh Cottage” in the capital’s Shahjahanpur where he lived until last year, said a member of the flat owner association, seeking anonymity.
Currently, he lives in a 2,500sqf rented flat in “Gold Palace” on Baily Road, said Khandaker Nasir Uddin, the flat owner.
In 2022, Sohan opened a gold shop – Pure Gold Ltd – in Dhaka’s New Market. Its vice-chairman, Sohan owns 30,000 of the total 1,00,000 shares of the company. Other owners include his sister Rahima Parvin (7,500 shares) and three cousins Mittafur Rahman, Anisur Rahman Hitlu and Selimuzzaman, who together own 53,000 shares, according to company filings with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies. 
Three people involved in gold business around his shop said Pure Gold opened its doors with around 1,000 tolas of gold ornaments worth at least Tk 10 crore. Shohan alone invested around Tk 5 crore while the rest was invested by other partners.
After Sheikh Hasina’s fall on August 5, a large amount of gold ornaments was moved to a safer place, the three businessmen said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, multiple reliable sources said they have information that Shohan amassed his wealth through bribery, particularly through recruitment and posting business in police.
Harichur did not respond to our calls and text messages.