The talk-of-the-town, 'Golden Monir,' was the second-in-command to Dhaka city BNP leader MA Quayum and ex-ward commissioner from Badda.
It was learnt that Monir amassed most of his wealth and property between 2001 and 2006. Meanwhile, Monir remained untouched despite changes in governments. Monir, once a salesman at a local city mall in the 1990s has ended up amassing Tk 1,050 crore in cash and property by the end of 2020.
'Golden Monir' was also a close associate of top terrorist Humayun Kabir Milan alias 'Murgi Milon,' a leader of the Seven-Star Group that boasts of being a top-notch criminal gang and terrorised businesses in the capital and its surrounding areas in the 90s.
A senior official of intelligence agency told the Daily Observer that investigators are trying to find out the patrons of Monir who helped him become the mafia don, 'Golden Monir,' in the last 30 years.
Quayum, ex-ward commissioner of Badda and a joint convener of Dhaka city BNP, left the country on April 28 in 2015. Quayum, left the country after Cesare Tavella, an Italian national, was shot dead by armed criminals in the capital's Gulshan diplomatic zone on September 28 in 2015.
Sudeep Kumar Chakraborty, Deputy
Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Gulshan Division, told this correspondent that 'Golden Monir' made his fortune by smuggling gold bars and keeping the high-ups of RAJUK and Ministry of Housing and Public Works happy.
Monir became a big player in Badda's DIT project and grabbed a good number of plots fraudulently. Police is also investigating the source of the net income of Monir, Sudeep added.
'Golden Monir' was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion on Saturday from his six-storey building on Road-11, Merul Badda after a 12-hour raid.
RAB recovered gold ornaments weighing 8kg, Tk 1.09 crore in cash, Tk 9 lakh in currencies of 10 different countries, five SUVs, a pistol, four bullets and four litres of foreign liquor.
The result -- 202 plots worth Tk 200 crore in Dhaka, of which 192 plots are in Badda alone. Seven of his plots are in Purbachal, a 70-katha plot and a school in Nikunja and he is also the owner of Safa Tower in Uttara, which is currently under construction.
In 25 bank accounts including 19 accounts alone in one private bank, Monir has had transactions totalling over Tk 930 crore -- Tk 412.12 crore in credit and Tk 518.20 crore in debit - and has loans of about Tk 110 crore with different banks, investigators found. Monir is also involved in laundering money, siphoning off huge amounts abroad through hundi, an illegal method of remitting money.
Investigators said although he has wealth and income of over a thousand crore taka, his income tax file says a different story.
According to his income tax file in 2019-20, Monir showed his wealth worth Tk 25.82 crore and income of Tk 1.04 crore. Investigators said police took no action against Monir because he has good connection with influential people of the ruling party.
