Allotment of govt property to Zia's family not okayed by JS, says AL

" A decision on the matter in the Jatiya Sangsad was not possible as there was no discussion on it," AL Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim MP said while addressing a press conference at the party office.

Selim wanted to know in which session of the Jatiya Sangsad it was decided that the two houses and other facilities would be given to Khaleda Zia.

The cabinet division in a handout on Monday said the houses at the Dhaka Cantonment and Gulshan were allotted to the family of the late president Ziaur Rahman as per a unanimous decision of the Jatiya Sangsad and as such it is pointless to raise any question on the issue settled long ago.

The AL press conference said government officials should keep themselves out of such political debates.

The press conference also raised the question whether the prime minister would return the houses, the current market value of which is over Tk 60 crore.

Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim said he raised a question in the Jatiya Sangsad on February 18, 1987 on the facilities given by the government to the family of the late president Ziaur Rahman.

"While replying to my question, then leader of the House Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury said that a government decision of June 6, 1981 permanently allotted a house on a 2.72 acre plot in the Dhaka Cantonment area to Khaleda Zia and her two sons against a premium of Tk 1 and a yearly tax of Tk 1", Selim said. "The then (1981) market value of the property was over Tk 6 crore and 69 lakh," he added quoting Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury.

The allotment did not seek permission of the Cantonment Board which was sole authority to allot cantonment property, he said.

AL leaders Motia Chowdhury, Kazi Zafrullah, Mukul Bose, Sultan Mohammad Mansur, Abdur Rahman and Abdul Mannan Khan also attended the press conference.