Luxury cars of 3 former MPs up for auction.
3 luxury cars of the Land Cruiser brand brought under the duty-free quota have been put up for auction at Mongla Port in Bagerhat. Three cars were brought for three former MPs. While a bid was submitted for one car, no bids were submitted for the remaining two cars.
After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, the members of the 12th Parliament did not get the opportunity to use these cars after the Parliament was dissolved.
Earlier, on July 17 last year, Anupam Shahjahan Joy of Tangail-08 constituency, Muhammad Zakaria of Dinajpur-01 constituency and former MP Nasima Zaman Bobby of the reserved seat imported three cars at Mongla Port. They are now absconding.
According to port sources, the President dissolved Parliament on August 6 after Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Like many things, the three former MPs lost their luxury cars imported on duty-free terms. As a result, three Prado cars of former MPs of the Land Cruiser brand are lying at Mongla Port. One of them has a market value of about Tk 10 crore. The port authority is facing an embarrassing situation as the three cars have been lying in the port shed for a long time.
Director (Traffic) of Mongla Port Authority Md. Kamal Hossain said that a total of 300 cars including these three cars are lying at Mongla Port. Even after repeated auctions, these cars are not being sold. As a result, the cars are lying in the sheds and yards of this port and are deteriorating year after year.
He hopes that the importers will resolve this problem soon.
Meanwhile, the cars of MPs who are in hiding or have fled abroad have been auctioned by the Mongla Customs House after legal notices were served to the importers. However, while tenders were submitted for one of the cars auctioned on November 25 last year, the traders participating in the auction did not submit any tenders for the remaining two.
Assistant Commissioner of Mongla Customs House Md. Rubel Hasan said that on July 17 last year, three Land Cruiser brand Prado cars of former MPs were imported. After that, these three cars were taken under his control as no one claimed them in time. Then they were auctioned on November 25 last year. However, no sale order has been issued yet.
It is worth noting that in 1987, HM Ershad first provided the facility of duty-free import of vehicles for MPs. In 2007, the caretaker government revoked this provision, but in 2009, the Awami League came to power and reintroduced this provision. As a result, the government has lost several thousand crores of taka in revenue in the last 15 years.
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