Mirza Abbas

Mirza Abbas Uddin Ahmed, known as Mirza Abbas, (born 7 February 1951) is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician and a member of the national standing committee of the party. He was the Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation from 1991 to 1993. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dhaka-6 from 2001 to 2006, and Minister of Housing and Public Works in Khaleda's cabinet.

Mirza Abbas
মির্জা আব্বাস
Minister of Housing and Public Works
In office
10 October 2001 – 29 October 2006
PresidentBadruddoza Chowdhury
Iajuddin Ahmed
Prime MinisterKhaleda Zia
Succeeded byDhiraj Kumar Nath
Member of Parliament
In office
1 October 2001 – 28 October 2006
Preceded bySaber Hossain Chowdhury
Succeeded byMizanur Rahman Khan
ConstituencyDhaka-6
In office
20 March 1991 – 30 March 1996
Preceded byAbdur Rahim[1]
Succeeded bySaber Hossain Chowdhury[2]
ConstituencyDhaka-6
Mayor of Dhaka
In office
1991–1993
Prime MinisterKhaleda Zia
Succeeded byMohammad Hanif
Personal details
Born (1951-02-07) 7 February 1951
Kishoreganj, East Bengal, Dominion of Pakistan
NationalityBangladeshi
Political partyBangladesh Nationalist Party
SpouseAfroza Abbas[3]
Alma materUniversity of Dhaka
OccupationPolitician

Early life and career

Abbas was born on 7 February 1951 in Kishoreganj, East Bengal to businessman Abdur Razzak and Kamla Khatun. He had his schooling in the local educational institutions in Kishoreganj. Later, he got admitted to the University of Dhaka in 1966 and earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1972.[4]

After obtaining his bachelor's, Abbas joined his family business, Mirza Enterprises.[5] He is the founder of Dhaka Bank Limited. He was officially introduced to the board of the bank as an alternate director in November 1995. He was appointed director of the bank on 29 March 2012.

Political career

Abbas is among those leaders who started their political career with the emergence of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and worked with President Ziaur Rahman.

Abbas was appointed as the mayor of Dhaka City Corporation in 1991. He served at that position until December 1993.[6] Later, in the election of 2001, Mirza Abbas was elected as a member of parliament from capital Dhaka. He was appointed as the Minister of Housing and Public Works. Mirza Abbas, as a minister, time and again focused on the strict enforcement of Wetland Protection Act to ensure environmental balance and flooding. The Ministry of Housing and Public Works under his able leadership amended the Building Construction Rules that was finally enacted in December 2006.[5]

Under his auspices, the Ministry also formulated Private Housing Land Development Rules, a guideline to streamline real estate developers particularly involved in filling up thousands of acres of wetland and flood flow zones. In The 5th National Council of Bangladesh Nationalist Party of 2009, he was selected as a national standing committee member of the party for his contribution towards the party.[7] He was later given the responsibility of the convener of party's Dhaka city unit in 2014. In 2015, he collected his nomination form to contest as a mayoral candidate from Dhaka South City Corporation.[8]

Charges and convictions

On 25 February 2007, Abbas was arrested when he went to submit his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). He was among the first list of 50 graft suspects.[9]

On 15 July 2007, ACC filed a case against Abbas, former BNP MP Ali Asgar Lobi and Mahfuzul Islam, a government official. The case accused them of illegally allotting an industrial plot in Tejgaon Industrial Area for Pacific Chemicals Ltd, a company owned by Lobi in 2006.[10]

On 12 May 2008, Abbas was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment on charges of invading tax upon his income for during 1990–2007 and also, furnishing false information in the tax returns.[9]

On 6 March 2014, ACC filed a graft cast against Abbas over corruption in plot allocation among journalists when he was the housing and public works minister.[11][12] After a Supreme Court ruling, he was released on bail from jail in April 2016.[11][13]

On 6 January 2016, after the surrender, Abbas was jailed in connection with two violence cases. The cases were filed in December 2014 and January 2015.[14]

Personal life

Abbas is married to Afroza Abbas, the president of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal, a wing of the BNP.[15][16]

Social service

Abbas established the Mirza Abbas Mohila Degree College for the betterment of women education in his locality.[5] He donated to SEID Trust, a school for autistic children.[17]

References
  1. "List of 4th parliament members". Bangladesh Parliament.
  2. "List of 7th parliament members". Bangladesh Parliament.
  3. "Afroza Abbas to lead BNP's women front". The Daily Star. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  4. "Affidavit of Mirza Abbas" (PDF). Election Commission. 2008-09-08. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  5. "Mr. Mirza Abbas Uddin Ahmed". Dhaka Bank Limited. 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  6. "Moudud, Roll of Honor". Dhaka North City Corporation. 2008-09-08. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  7. "BNP's Mirza Abbas joins mayoral race". The Daily Star. 2015-03-26. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  8. "The people are suffocated: Mirza Abbas". Prothom Alo. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  9. "Mirza Abbas gets 8yrs for tax offences". The Daily Star. 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  10. "Graft case: HC clears way for trial of Mirza Abbas". The Daily Star. 2016-03-30. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  11. "BNP's Mirza Abbas freed on bail". The Daily Star. 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  12. "Graft: Mirza Abbas indicted, trial Jan 1". The Daily Star. 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  13. "Mirza Abbas free to walk out of jail". The Daily Star. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  14. "Abbas lands in jail after surrender". The Daily Star. 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  15. "Freeze Tk 21cr property of Afroza Abbas". The Daily Star. 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  16. "Wife of Mirza Abbas jailed for 16yrs". The Daily Star. 2007-09-03. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  17. "Mirza Abbas donates SEID". The New Nation. 2014-07-06. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
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