'Hawa Bhaban imposed 10pc toll on business'

Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said it is known to all that the key task of BNP's alternative powerhouse 'Hawa Bhaban' was to impose 10 percent 'toll' on business during the BNP-Jamaat regime.

He was talking to journalists after addressing the first founding anniversary celebration of the Dainik Somoyer Alo at the Officers' Club in the city on Monday.

Hasan Mahmud, also a joint general secretary of the ruling Awami League, said, "When BNP was in power, they ran a 'parallel' government creating the "Hawa Bhaban" and its main task was to impose 10 percent toll on business."

The US intelligence agency FBI gave testimony on corruption of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, elder son of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, who has been awarded 10-year imprisonment in graft cases, he further said.

He said BNP Chairperson, who is also a convict of graft cases, had 'whitened black money' giving fine.Khaleda's another son Arafat Rahman Koko's laundered money was brought back from Singapore, he said, adding that these incidents were unearthed by foreign intelligence agencies and not by the government.