Hotel Le Meridian owner sent to jail

A Dhaka court on Wednesday sent to jail Amin Ahmed, owner of hotel Le Meridian, in a tax evasion case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Ash Shams Jaglul Hossain passed the order denying Amin bail following his surrender to the court.

According to the case documents, Amin, also a director of Best Holdings Ltd, helped former BASIC bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu undervalue a piece of land by nearly Tk95 crore to avoid taxes.

The property in question was a 32.25 katha plot in the capital’s Cantonment Bazar area. In July 2012, With the help of Amin, Bachhu showed the property’s worth to be about only Tk10 crore, thus avoiding Tk8.52 lakhs in land purchase tax and hiding his nearly Tk95 crore illegally earned assets. Amin also likely took a share in the saved money.

The charge-sheet in the case is the first against Bacchu, who has been accused in at least 50 other corruption cases.