GK Shamim on remand

SM Golam Kibria Shamim was accused of tender manipulation, extortion, and running drugs and gambling rackets in one of the three cases filed against him yesterday.

He took money from bus terminals and cattle markets by causing fear with his armed bodyguards, the case added.

The firearms were licenced to his seven bodyguards but they wielded those breaching the conditions of licences, it reads.

Shamim and Shafiqul Alam Feroz, president of Kalabagan Krira Chakra club, were arrested on Friday. They were placed on 10-day remands each yesterday.

Popularly known as GK Shamim, the top government-listed contractor, and his seven bodyguards were accused of these in the case filed under the Arms Act with Gulshan Police Station.

The accused bodyguards are: Delwar Hossain, Murad Hossain, Zahidul Islam, Shahidul Islam, Kamal Hossain, Samsad Hossain and Aminul Islam.

Two other cases filed against Shamim with the police station are under the money laundering and narcotics control acts.

Naib Subeda Mizanur Rahman of Rab 1 filed the cases yesterday afternoon.

During a raid at Shamim’s house and office in the capital’s Niketan, Rab seized eight firearms, a huge amount of ammunition, Fixed Deposit Receipts of Tk 165 crore and around Tk 1.8 crore in cash, a large stash of the US and Singaporean dollars and some foreign liquor.

Shamim is known to be an influential contractor of the Public Works Department and other government organisations. His firm GKB and Company (Pvt) Limited is handling 15 big construction projects of the government, involving around Tk 3,000 crore, said its Marketing Manager Shafaeth Hossain.

PLACED ON REMAND

Shamim was placed on a 10-day remand in the cases filed under the Arms Act and Narcotics Control Act.

In one case, the prosecutors appealed for a seven-day remand each for Shamim and his seven bodyguards, but the court granted Shamim five days and seven bodyguards four days each.

Shamim was placed on another five-day remand in the drugs case in which he is the lone accused.

His lawyers pleaded to the court for cancellation of the remand, saying Shamim was a special contractor. They argued that he needed the armed bodyguards because of his 18 construction projects involving several thousand crores.

They also argued that the firearms were legal and the liquor seized during the raid did not belong to him.

The prosecutors asked how a man could win the contract for 18 government projects.

Shamim needs to be interrogated in remand to solve the mystery, they added.

KALABAGAN CLUB PRESIDENT

Kalabagan Krira Chakra President Shafiqul Alam Feroz was placed on a 10-day remand in a case filed in connection with possessing an illegal firearm and drugs.

A Dhaka court passed the order after police produced him before it with a 20-day remand prayer in two cases.

The prosecutors said as the law enforcers found a foreign pistol and 990 yaba pills in his possession, it was necessary to interrogate him in remand.

Shafiqul’s lawyer told the court that an influential quarter, conspiring against Shafiqul, implicated him in false cases.

The lawyer alleged that Shafiqul was “threatened with crossfire” while in custody and asked why he would keep a firearm and yaba pills at his office at a time when law enforcers were conducting raids one after another in sporting clubs.

He also pointed out that Rab didn’t allow journalists inside the club during the raid which was unusual considering the other recent raids.

Lt Col Ashique Billah, commanding officer of Rab-2, didn’t comment on this.

The two cases were filed against Shafiqul with Dhanmondi Police Station.

Shafiqul is a central executive committee member of the Krishak League, a body of the ruling Awami League. He is also the senior vice president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies.