Leaving everyone surprised, Syed Abed Ali, who is a former driver for the Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC) reportedly has become the owner of a three-star hotel and other assets worth more than Tk 50 crore.
Investigators in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said that they have found proofs of his illegal assets during their primarily investigation.
One of the CID investigators said, “The assets include a three-star hotel on Kuakata beach in Patuakhali district, a six-story building in Mirpur’s Paikpara area, three flats in West Shewrapara and a harrier SUV and a Toyota Premio car and cash in banks accounts.”
CID has already seized the vehicles.
“Abed Ali recently sold two more flats in the West Shewrapara building. We suspected that he had more property and we are investigating it,” the CID officer said.
Abed’s name came into discussion especially on social media after Channel 24 ran a report of question leak in the exams of conducted by PSC.
At least 17 people, including Abed and his son Syed Sohanur Rahman Siam, relief and disaster management secretary of Dhaka north city unit Chhatra League, and six PSC officials were arrested by the CID for their alleged involvement in leaking questions of government job exams even BCS exams.
The CID official said Abed lost his job at the PSC due to a question leak allegation in 2015. Still, he had run his racket with the help of some PSC officials.
The CID official said Siam, who was relieved from the BCL yesterday, used to abet his father
in the crime. CID officials and locals said Abed was not very
familiar in the locality but recently started to construct a house. He used to introduce himself as a chairman candidate for the Dasar upazila in Madaripur.
Going through his Facebook ID, it was seen that Abed recently campaigned in the upazila, urging locals to support him in the upcoming election.
In a video post in June, he claimed that he did not take any wrong path to earn his money. He also said he made his properties through hard work. He admitted that he owned a seven-story building and a 11-storey building in Dhaka, and set up a mosque and graveyard on 71 decimals of land.
“Now I have started constructing a house which already cost Tk 3 crore,” he told a gathering in the upazila.
What people from Abed Ali’s village say about him
UNB from Madaripur reports; Although known locally as a real estate businessman, Abed Ali’s alleged criminal activities have shocked his community.
Residents of Botla village revealed that Abed Ali, the second of four children in a poor family, began working as a porter in Dhaka’s Sadarghat at the age of eight. He later learned to drive and secured a job at the PSC, which marked the beginning of his ascent to wealth.
The scandal has sparked outrage in Madaripur and beyond. Abdul Haque, a 45-year-old local resident, said, “Syed Abed Ali was known for his charitable donations. Last Eid, his son Siam distributed beef to households in the area, arriving in a luxury car. We had no idea about their involvement in such criminal activities. Justice must be served after a thorough investigation.”
Siam apparently used to introduce himself as “son of a business magnate.”
Abed Ali built a lavish house in his village, spending crores of taka. He has also allegedly occupied land to establish a cattle farm and market. Masud Parvez, president of the Madaripur Unnayan Sangram Parishad, commented, “The public should question those who amass wealth in suspicious ways.”
