The casino culture was born at 'Hawa Bhaban' — the BNP's powerhouse during its reign, and its acting chief Tarique Rahman was the “casino emperor,” say two senior Cabinet members.
“The BNP regime brought the culture of alcohol and gambling to the country,” Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader said on Wednesday (Sept 25) at Savar.
He said that everyone knows that casinos were born at Hawa Bhaban and the BNP government failed to take any steps. “Sheikh Hasina did what Khaleda Zia couldn’t.”
Meanwhile, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud termed BNP acting chief as a “casino emperor.”
“We saw that Tarique Rahman was showing earnings from casinos in his tax returns at London,” Mahmud said at National Press Club on Wednesday.
He echoed Quader’s comment that it was the BNP leaders who started the casino culture in the country and said that BNP was complaining due to their failure.
Both the ministers’ comments came in response to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s comments that the Awami League regime practices politics of robbery and has turned Bangladesh into a country of gamblers.
The government has been carrying out countrywide anti-casino drives since Sept 18 when RAB busted several casinos in the capital.
RAB arrested now-expelled Jubo League leader Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan on charges of running a casino at the Young Men’s Club in Dhaka’s Fakirapool area from his Gulshan residence and seized a large cache of foreign currencies and illegal weapons from his residence.
The same day, RAB raided the detained more than 140 people and seized huge quantity of alcohol, gambling equipment and Tk 22.9 million.
Three cases have been opened against Khalid under the narcotics act, the Arms Act, and the Money Laundering Act.