Online Desk: The High Court today directed the Anti-Corruption Commission to conduct an inquiry into allegations that Awami League lawmaker Abdus Sobhan Miah Golap bought multiple homes in New York and amassed illegal wealth by abusing his power and position. The court also asked the ACC to submit the probe report on the allegations against the Madaripur-3 lawmaker to this court through the Supreme Court registrar general in four months.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat Lizu passed the order following a writ petition filed by SC lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman seeking necessary directives on this issue. On Sunday he submitted the petition as a public interest litigation to the HC seeking its directive on authorities concerned to probe allegations against Awami League lawmaker Abdus Sobhan Miah Golap of purchasing multiple homes in New York and amassing huge illegal wealth at home and abroad by abusing his power, position and through any other means, and concealing information about his wealth in his election affidavit in 2018.

Sayedul Haque Suman submitted the petition based on a report published on The Daily Star on January 16 this year under a headline “AL MP Golap owns nine properties in New York City”. The report said, “Awami League lawmaker Abdus Sobhan Miah Golap concealed information about being an American citizen and owning nine properties in New York City in his election affidavit in 2018, found an investigation by a global media agency — raising questions about his seat in the parliament.”

“Golap, who was given the post of central committee’s publicity and publication secretary in the AL’s national council last month (December last year), bought the properties between 2014 and 2019, according to a report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists,” The Daily Star report said.

“Of the nine properties, which cost Golap about $4 million, eight were bought with upfront cash payments. His last purchase — a semi-detached house in Jackson Heights that cost $1.18 million — was made through a small mortgage and cash in 2019, after he became an MP, according to the report, published on Friday (January 13),” the report said. Petitioner Sayedul Haque Suman himself moved the petition, while Senior Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan and Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the ACC and state during hearing of the petition today.