'War crimes evidence found against Moosa'

Journalists Sagar Lohani and Probir Sikdar today handed over some documents, what they said evidence of wartime crimes committed by controversial businessman Moosa Bin Shamsher, to the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal.

“We have requested them [officials of the agency] to start a formal investigation against Moosa and take a step to arrest him so that he can do no hindrance to the investigation,” Sagar Lohani told The Daily Star.

He said they have submitted 28-page documents-- mainly media reports-- to Sanaul Huq, co-coordinator of the agency and also talked to agency’s coordinator Abdul Hannan Khan.

“We have collected media reports of last 15 to 16 years including Janakantha’s report ‘Sei Rajakar’ written by Probir Sikder over the crimes of Moosa,” he said.

“They [investigators] received our documents and assured us that they will complete the ongoing preliminary investigation as soon as possible,” Sagar said.

Contacted, Hannan Khan confirmed about receiving the documents.

“We will follow the same procedure in this case what we have been following in other cases,” Hannan said.

On March 29, the agency said that it has started a preliminary investigation against Moosa into his alleged involvement in crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971.

“We will register a case against him if we find evidence during the enquiry,” Sanaul Huq told reporters on that day. He, however, declined to give further details but invited journalists to give information about Moosa, if they had any.

Sagar said they submitted the documents in response to Sanaul’s request.

Earlier in 2001, Bangla daily Janakantha ran a series of reports headlined ‘Sei Razakar’ on alleged war criminals. Several parts of those reports have already been used as prosecution evidence in different war crimes cases.

The Janakantha on March 24, 2001, ran a report on Moosa under the headline “Faridpurer 'Nula Moosa e' Ekhon Dhakar Rahoshye Ghera Dhanyadhya Bebosaye Prince Moosa bin Shamsher” (Nula Moosa of Faridpur now Dhaka's mysterious rich businessman Prince Moosa bin Shamsher).

According to the report, Moosa, a man from Faridpur, was a close aide of Pakistani Major Akram Koreshi and was involved in several war crimes including killings during the Liberation War.

Contacted, Mosharraf Hossain, an office executive of Moosa's business company, told The Daily Star at 6:30 pm that Moosa would soon give his official reply.