A Chattogram court today started recording witness statements in a case filed against controversial former Awami League MP Abdur Rahman Bodi from Cox’s Bazar for accumulating illegal wealth through corruption.

Bodi was present in court when the witnesses’ statement was recorded.

Earlier, he was taken to the court of Chattogram Special Divisional Magistrate Kabir Uddin Pramanik under high security of Chattogram Central Jail.

The witnesses, Abdul Nasir and Mizanur Rahman, are former officials of Islami Bank’s Teknaf branch who gave their statements in court. After half an hour of testimony, he was sent to prison, wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Kazi Sanowar Ahmed said two bank officials testified about funds Abdur Rahman allegedly acquired illegally and kept in bank accounts. The court set the next hearing date for the testimony of witnesses as January 7 next year.

According to ACC sources, a case was filed against Bodi in 2007 for concealing assets worth Tk 43,43,994 and acquiring additional assets worth Tk 66,70,000 from unknown sources .

At the time, Bodi was the elected mayor of Teknaf Municipality.

The ACC later submitted an indictment implicating him the following year. However, the trial was postponed after Bodi obtained a stay order from the High Court.

However, after the ACC appealed, the case resumed in 2017. On September 13, 2020, charges were brought against him, opening the trial. Abdur Rahman then appealed to the High Court, which rejected his request in January 2022.

On September 22, 2023, the witness’ testimony began.

On August 24, Rab-7 arrested Bodi from Panchlaish area of ​​Chattogram. He was shown as arrested in a murder case filed with the Teknaf Police Station after the fall of the AL government following a mass uprising.

The Interior Ministry had earlier listed Bodi as one of the “godfathers” of drug trafficking in Cox’s Bazar. His name appears as a “drug godfather” on a list that includes at least 26 members of his family, including four of his brothers.