ACC forms 3-member team to investigate Gen Zia’s illegal wealth

The Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to investigate allegations of acquiring illegal wealth against Ziaul Ahsan, former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC).

A three-member investigation team was formed to this end today (18 December), ACC Director General Md Akhter Hossain told reporters.

The team, led by ACC Deputy Director (Research and Investigation-8) Md Salahuddin, includes Assistant Director Ranjit Kumar Karmakar and Deputy Assistant Director Md Jabed Hossain Sajal.

Ziaul, who was a two-star ranked Bangladesh Army officer, was relieved from service by the army on 6 August, a day after the Awami League government was ousted in a mass uprising.

Until then, he had been serving as the chief of NTMC since 2022. Prior to that, he served in the Rapid Action Battalion.

Ziaul had taken the army's refuge fearing a threat to his personal security. The army handed him over to the police on 15 August night. Police later showed him arrested in a case filed with New Market Police Station over the killing of Shahjahan Ali during the quota reform protests on 16 July.

In the remand application, the police claimed that Gen Zia had confessed to Bangladesh buying Israeli spyware Pegasus, developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android.

The police also claimed that the former NTMC DG was involved in the "Aynaghor" concept, a secret prison for victims of enforced disappearances and political prisoners.

But in court, Ziaul said, "I am not involved with any murder, enforced disappearance. Ask anyone who has been freed from the Aynaghor to say that I held them there."

Ziaul is also accused of direct involvement in the 2013 shooting at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka.

Ziaul Ahsan began his military career as an infantry officer in the Bangladesh Army in 1991. In 2009, shortly after the Awami League came to power, he was appointed co-commander of RAB-2 while still holding the rank of major.

He quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the first director general of the NTMC in 2022. Throughout his career, Zia steadily climbed the ranks reportedly due to his favour with the previous government, despite allegations of controversial activities.

His tenure at the NTMC was marked by allegations of misuse of power, including the recording of private conversations of high-profile government and opposition leaders, as well as law enforcement officials.