Ataur Rahman Bachchu — the member of parliament for Narail-2 (Lohagara upazila and part of Sadar) and Ameer of the district Jamaat-e-Islami — has dismissed his personal assistant (PS), Abu Saleh Mohammad Gofran. At 4:27pm on Sunday (28 June), the MP posted a related letter, bearing his seal and signature, on his verified Facebook account.
The letter said: “This is to inform all concerned that my personal assistant, Abu Saleh Mohammad Gofran, has been dismissed for negligence in performing his duties. The order will be considered effective from 28/06/2026.” The letter did not specify what negligence was involved.
The dismissal letter was issued after it was reported in various media on Saturday that the MP’s daughter’s name appeared twice on a secretariat-approved list of grants from his optional fund.
Last Friday (26 June), a Bangladesh Secretariat letter spread on Facebook. It concerned grants from Ataur Rahman Bachchu’s optional fund. The letter stated that the MP had expressed an intention to grant Tk 1,83,500 allocated from the optional fund for the 2025-26 fiscal year, to be distributed at his own discretion, to the persons listed, and that approval of the expenditure was being conveyed. Attached were the names, fathers’ names, addresses and amounts for 21 grant recipients.
On the list, the name “Faiza” appeared at numbers 1 and 8. Beside the two names, the father’s name was given as Md Bachchu in one and Md Ataur in the other, with Tk 10,000 listed against each. People of various professions commented on Facebook that Faiza was the name of the MP’s daughter.
The list also showed that nine of the 10 people from Narail Sadar upazila were from the MP’s own Habkhali union, and that seven of the 11 from Lohagara upazila were from Lahuria, the area of the MP’s in-laws, according to the allegations.
The MP, Ataur Rahman Bachchu, said the list had been drawn up by his PS. “I was not in Narail at the time. One day my PS told me a list had to be submitted. I told him to provide names from all unions of the constituency. My signed pad was with the PS at the time. But the PS included too many people from my family or area. That is not what I wanted,” he said.
He added: “I did not even know the grant money was coming. After the grant letter was circulated on Facebook on Friday, I asked the UNO whether the money was coming. The UNO told me, ‘Sir, the money is indeed coming.’ I said I had not been informed. I cannot disburse it as listed. I am not the kind of person who needs to take Tk 10,000 in my own child’s name.”
Narail Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) TM Rahsin Kabir said the grant had been approved by the secretariat under the MP’s DO letter for the names on the list. Under the rules, the money must go to those for whom the secretariat allocated it, with no scope to give it to others; if anyone did not come forward, their money would be returned, he said. There was no scope to submit a new list locally, and any correction would have to be made by the secretariat.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report