Fugitive transfers his properties!

Moulavi Zakaria Sikdar has been on the run since a war crimes tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him around two years ago.

But during that period, he not only evaded arrest but also transferred properties to his relatives through Heba Dalil (verbal donation) “with the help” of a sub-registrar's office and taking advantage of a special provision of laws.

With police's failure to arrest the 78-year-old of Cox's Bazar, Zakaria handed over his property worth Tk 38 lakh to his daughters in November last year, and the sub-registrar of Moheshkhali upazila had “helped” him transfer the land and dodge arrest, according to documents obtained by The Daily Star.

After the Investigation Agency of the International Crimes Tribunal came to know about the development, it wrote to the inspector general of registration on March 15 for taking necessary action, Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of the agency, told this newspaper.

Signed by Hannan Khan, copies of the letter were sent to the secretaries of home and law ministries and the deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar.

The agency in its letter said Zakaria of Gorakghata Sikderpara of Moheshkhali used the proceeds from the property ownership handover to influence the prosecution witnesses of the case. It also submitted other documents related to the land registration.

On May 21, 2015, Tribunal-2 issued arrest warrants against 16 war crimes accused of Moheshkhali, including Zakaria. Police arrested three of them but could not arrest Zakaria.

On October 8, 2015, the investigation agency completed its probe into the case and found the involvement of Zakaria and 18 others in the killing of at least 94 people and other offences during the Liberation War. The prosecution pressed 12 charges against them on March 15 last year.

Police at least twice filed reports to the tribunal showing him absconding. The last report was lodged on February 15 this year, tribunal sources said.

But the documents obtained by this paper show Zakaria handed over 0.9975 acres of land of Thakurtala mouza (worth around Tk 38 lakh) to his four daughters --Maimuna Saoda, Khaleda Begum alias Khaleda Sultana Daisy, Shaheda Khanam and Rokshana Akhter.

Moheshkhali upazila Sub-registrar Gouranga Chandra Debnath completed the Heba Dalil under section 31 of the Registration Act, 1908, after going to Zakaria's relative's house in Chittagong on November 10 last year.

The deed, however, had no specific address.

Usually, property registration under the Registration Act, 1908, has to be carried out at the sub- registrar's office and the owner of the property has to be present there in person. Section 31 of the act, however, allows exceptions under special circumstances.

In a special situation, the authorised officer may visit the owner of a property at the latter's house or a desired place to complete the procedure of the registration.

Zakaria mentioned “illness” as the reason before the commission.

Contacted, Gouranga told The Daily Star on April 9 that he was transferred to Moheshkhali in June last year, and was not aware that Zakaria was an absconding war crimes accused.

He said there was no scope for registering land after knowing Zakaria was a fugitive.

“I was unaware. About a month ago, the UNO sir told me that he [Zakaria] is a war crimes accused. Had I known it earlier, no question of land registration would have arisen. I would never have done this,” Gouranga said.

Asked why he had registered the land although the place of the commission was not fully stated, Gouranga said, “Usually, in such cases, this type of address is mentioned.”

Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Moheshkhali Police Station, told The Daily Star yesterday that they were trying to arrest Zakaria.

He said following a request of the tribunal's investigation agency, they recently enquired about Zakaria's properties and found that he only has a two-storey house at his village home.

Asked about transferring of properties to his daughters, the OC said, “Local AC (land) office could not give us any such information.”

MORE FUGITIVES MIGHT HAVE SOLD PROPERTIES!

Apart from Zakaria, condemned fugitives Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Bachchu Razakar, and MA Zahid Hossain Khokon of Faridpur and Abdul Zabbar of Pirojpur and fugitive accused Liakat Ali of Habiganj might have sold or transferred their properties during investigation or trial of their cases or even after their conviction, Hannan said.

In February, the agency asked all police commissioners and superintendents of police to report on the assets of 75 fugitive war crimes convicts and suspects.

The agency said many fugitive accused have businesses, NGOs, houses and other properties and with the income from the properties, they were passing quite a solvent life while still being on the run. Some of them were even instigating subversive activities, it said.

Hannan Khan said the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973, under which the trial was being conducted, should be amended empowering the investigation agency to arrest a war crimes accused without warrant so that the agency officials could arrest a suspect during the probe.

Besides, under the existing criminal law, a court could order attachment of properties of a fugitive to force him or her to surrender. But the ICT act had no such provision and for this reason, a fugitive could use his property through family members, he said.

The fugitives' list could be given to stock exchanges, sub-registrar's offices and the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms to prevent them from selling or transferring their properties, Hannan added.