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Information and Broadcast Advisor Mahfuj Alam has raised counterclaims in response to an allegation of “money laundering and illegal lobbying” in a Facebook post.
He said “prestige and the best interests of the country” are more important than billions of taka.
“All of us should unite against people who tend to spread rumours and only try to take advantage,” he wrote on Facebook.
To explain his stance, Mahfuj, who became part of the advisory council as a student representative, edited his Facebook post.
The post on Facebook at 2:51am on Tuesday read, “Nowadays, many people have been unmaksed, and they are acting against me. Some big shots in a new political party are involved in it. Everything will be revealed. Everyone in certain circles is corrupt, but one person is not getting any share of the booty. Who would accept this!”
He also wrote, “Even my worst enemies - who accused me of different things in the past 12 months - did not allege corruption or financial discrepancies against me. Big shots in a new party are finding it difficult.”
Later, at 4:28 am, Mahfuj edited the post and replaced “Some big shots in a new political party” with “Big shots in different political parties”.
The advisor also gave an explanation when he edited the post. He wrote, “I have edited the post as some people are unnecessarily creating controversies over a few sentences. July has been a ladder for political mobility for some people. Not from one political party, but big shots in many parties are acting against me or all of us.”
Former Dhaka University professor Fahmidul Haque wrote in a comment below Mahfuj’s Facebook post- “Big shots from a new political party… the nation is in such a big crisis.”
Former Dhaka University student Abdullah Hil Baki wrote, "Who are the new parties? There are two such parties that are discussed now. There is NCP (National Citizen Party) and UP-Bangladesh (United People’s Bangladesh). No one knowingly makes such statements against their brothers, nor they are supposed to. Do you mean anyone from UP-Bangladesh? Or someone else?”
Mahfuj replied, "I am getting news of corruption among many of the July supporters. That is why I am mentioning a circle. But, except for a small section, all the July workers and supporters are still as they used to be. NCP is not the only party but there are others.
"There are more people from new parties or some platforms in different parts of the state than the NCP. However, only the NCP is being blamed. And, some of the bigshots of the new party are ready to do anything to get their share of the political sphere. But, they also know how clean my hands are."
Agency tried to contact the advisor specify who he meant by “big shots,” but he did not pick up the phone. He did not reply to a text message sent over WhatsApp either.
WHAT KICKED OFF THE TALK?
The debate started following a Facebook post by Boni Amin, an expatriate in Australia.
He claimed that Advisor Mahfuj's "money from various lobbying and filing commissions" was being deposited in his elder brother's bank account in Australia for nine months months. Of this, "transactions worth Tk 65 million" from the Middle East were noticed by the Australian intelligence agency AUSTRAC and the account was frozen, he said.
He claimed the issue is undergoing an investigation.
Boni Amin's claim could not be independently verified by bdnews24.com. No media release was found on the AUSTRAC website on Monday night. There was no news regarding the matter in the Australian media either.
However, Mahfuj's brother and NCP Joint Convener Mahbub Alam Mahir denied the allegations in a Facebook post on Monday night.
Revealing the transaction information of one of his bank accounts, he said, "The information spread by a person named Boni Amin and some media reports is false. I was a Master's student at an Australian university. The Australian account has been open since 2023."
"I haven’t done any lobbying work on behalf of my brother Mahfuj Alam. He has not allowed anyone to do so thus far. Apart from my personal and family business, I or our family have no history of any financial transactions."
Mahir wrote, “My father and I manage the business ventures established by my father and Mahfuj. There is no ambiguity here. Everything is endorsed by the laws of Bangladesh and is public information.”
“[Boni] must apologise in the next 24 hours. I have spoken to some lawyers in Australia. If necessary, I’ll take legal action.”
WHAT THE ADVISOR SAYS
Advisor Mahfuj shared his brother's post on Facebook to explain his position. He claimed that a person approached his brother with a request for lobbying, but he did not agree to it.
He wrote, “Since we are talking about lobbying, let me share an incident. A friend of ours introduced a person to my brother. They said if we managed to get them a tender order for BTV [Bangladesh Television], they would give us some commission and help us to hold programmes on the July Uprising in different countries. When I heard it, I declined. Even it is for good cause, the best interests of the country can’t be compromised. Later, that tender process was blocked.”
"That person recorded the conversation and sent it to a journalist. When that journalist contacted me, I told him, 'We didn't let him do it.' And, that person wanted to frame us by talking about the programmes on the July Uprising. He believed me and didn't make the recording public."