Bangladesh Police on Friday clarified that the overseas travel of Md Belal Hossain Chowdhury, member (VAT implementation and IT) at the National Board of Revenue (NBR), was approved by the immigration police officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport following due diligence.

His travel came under controversy amid news of a travel ban imposed on him earlier this year.

On its official Facebook page, the police stated that although a ban was imposed by the court on February 2 regarding overseas travel, the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court, Dhaka, permitted him to travel again on September 9.

Al Amin Sheikh, public relations officer at the NBR, said that the travel embargo had been issued by the court on February 2, as requested by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Therefore, the issue of monitoring that ban fell on the ACC and not the NBR, he added.

Documents of his travel were revealed on social media by UK-based journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan, where it was shown that Chowdhury had booked tickets for him and his wife with Singapore Airlines for a flight from Dhaka to Singapore on Thursday night (September 18) and a connecting flight from Singapore to Sydney the next morning.

Meanwhile, a government order (GO) was also issued by the Internal Revenue Department (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance to lead an eleven-member NBR delegation to travel to Indonesia for participating in a training on data center and management from September 14-20.

The Finance Today could not independently verify whether Chowdhury had travelled to Indonesia or not.

A Dhaka court on February 2 had imposed a travel ban on Mohammad Belal Hossain Chowdhury and his wife, Hosna Ferdous Sumi, over graft charges brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain Galib passed the orders.

The ACC, in its plea against Mohammad Belal Hossain Chowdhury and his wife, said the commission is probing allegations of amassing illegal wealth of hundreds of crores of taka against the official and his family members.

Chowdhury, as former commissioner of Beanpole Customs House, had allegedly bought huge properties at home and abroad, especially in Canada, with the money he amassed through corruption.

The former customs commissioner has huge investments in different developer companies, real estate companies, and the share market, the ACC said in its plea earlier this year.