Shamsul Haque Chowdhury

Shamsul Haque Chowdhury
শামসুল হক চৌধুরী
Member of Parliament
In office
2008–2014
Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina
Preceded byGazi Shahjahan Jwel
Succeeded byM. Abdul Latif
In office
2014–2018
Preceded bySaifuzzaman Chowdhury
Member of Parliament
for Chittagong-12
In office
2019–2023
Personal details
Born (1957-07-20) July 20, 1957 (age 67)[1]
Shovonandi, Patiya Upazila, Chittagong District
Political partyAwami League

Shamsul Haque Chowdhury (Bengali: শামসুল হক চৌধুরী) (born 20 July 1957) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a former Member of Parliament from Chittagong-12.[2][3] He is also the general secretary of Chittagong based football club Chittagong Abahani.

Early life

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Chowdhury was born 20 July 1957 in Shovonandi, Patiya Upazila, Chittagong District.[4]

Career

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Chowdhury received the prestigious National Sports Award 2013 in Organizer (football) category.[5] Chowdhury was a councilor of Bangladesh Football Federation in 2008. In April 2008, before the elections of Bangladesh Football Federation, he filed a motion challenging the candidacy of Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, Golam Rabbani Helal, and Kazi Salahuddin.[6] His motion was dismissed by the election commission of the federation.[7] In July 2008, he was made a member of the development committee of Bangladesh Football Federation.[8]

Chowdhury was elected to Parliament from Chittagong-11 in 2008 as a candidate of Awami League.[9] In January 2012, he was investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission for allegation of irregularities over the distribution of government relief.[10]

Chowdhury was elected to parliament from Chittagong-12 as a candidate of Awami League in 2014.[11] he filled nomination papers for the post of Vice-President of Bangladesh Football Federation in April 2016.[12]

Chowdhury is the general secretary of Chittagong based football club Chittagong Abahani. He is the chairperson of District Football Association (DFA) Monitoring Committee of Bangladesh Football Federation.[13][14] He was re-elected to parliament from Chittagong-12 as a candidate of Awami League.[15][16]

Chittagong Abahani was raided by Rapid Action Battalion who found cards used for gambling.[17] Chowdhury told the Prothom Alo that if the youth weren't allowed to play cards they would mug people and expressed anger over the raids by law enforcement agencies.[18] Khorshed Alam Sujan, Vice President of Chittagong Awami League, said that Chowdhury was an "infiltrator" who had previously elected ward commissioner on a Jatiya Party nomination in the 1980s.[17] He also said it was an "open secret" that gambling took place at Abahani club in Chittagong.[17] Chowdhury's son, Nazmul Karim Chowdhury Sharun, also faced criticism after a phone call was leaked in which he threatened to beat up Chittagong Awami League sports affairs secretary, Didarul Alam Chowdhury.[17] Around the same time a video of Sharun shooting an Ak style rifle went viral in Bangladesh and for which he faced criticism.[19][20] After the video, he was excluded from the entourage of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum.[21]

On 26 September 2019, an Inspector of Bangladesh Police, Mahmud Saiful Amin, was suspended after he alleged Chowdhury was involved in the casino operations in Chittagong and used to collect money from them along with some corrupt police officers.[22] On 19 October 2019, Anti-Corruption Commission announced that it was investigating Chowdhury and a few other Awami League politicians on corruption allegation and involvement with the illegal casino operations.[23] The commission announced it was getting ready to file charges against Chowdhury.[24] In November 2019 a travel ban was imposed on him.[25] The case was dropped in May 2023. Chowdhury commented:

I have respect for the country's judiciary, constitutional institutions, and media. The ACC has the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations against anyone. However, disclosing information in the media at the initial stage of an investigation without determining its veracity causes respectable persons in society to suffer social, political, and family embarrassment. Nevertheless, I applaud the ACC for conducting an impartial investigation.[26]

Personal life

[edit]

Chowdhury was infected with COVID-19 on 26 December 2020.[27]

References

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  1. ^ "Constituency 289 10th En". Bangladesh Parliament.
  2. ^ "Joyful Joy and Durjoy". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  3. ^ "JS body unhappy over IMED's poor project monitoring". The Financial Express. Dhaka. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Shamsul Hoque Chowdhury -জনাব সামশুল হক চৌধুরী". Amarmp. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  5. ^ "85 sports personalities receive National Sports Award | Sports". BSS. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Salahuddin's candidature questioned by councillor". The Daily Star. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Salahuddin cleared". The Daily Star. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  8. ^ "BFF forms 2 committees". The Daily Star. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Bangladesh Parliament Election - Detail Results - Amar Desh Online". amardesh.com. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  10. ^ আমি তো একরাতে বাংলাদেশকে পাল্টে দিতে পারব না : সাংসদ সামশুল হক চৌধুরী. banglanews24.com (in Bengali). 14 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Electoral Area Result Statistics". Amarmp. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Tutul wants to be back with football". The Daily Star. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  13. ^ "BFF greets whip Shamsul Haque Chwodhury". UNB. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  14. ^ "BFF warns Rangpur DFA over District Football League". The Daily Observer. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  15. ^ "List of 11th Parliament Members Bangla". Bangladesh Parliament. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Chattogram-12 - Constituency detail of Bangladesh General Election 2018". The Daily Star. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  17. ^ a b c d "Gambling in Club: JS whip, son draw ire of Ctg AL ranks". The Daily Star. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  18. ^ ক্লাবে চলমান অভিযানে ক্ষুব্ধ হুইপ শামসুল. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Video of practising shooting with arms by Whip's son Sharun goes viral". Daily Sun. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  20. ^ "Casino controversy brings forward AL whip's past". Prothom Alo. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  21. ^ "Whip's son Sharun left out of PM's entourage list!". Daily Sun. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Policeman suspended over post in Facebook". The Independent. Dhaka. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  23. ^ Huq, Tabarul. "AL Whip Shamsul, MP Shawon among around 50 under ACC scanner". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  24. ^ "20 more MPs getting trapped by ACC". Risingbd.com. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  25. ^ "AL lists 1,500 'infiltrators'". The Daily Star. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  26. ^ "Whip Shamsul acquitted of ACC charges". The Business Standard. 10 May 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  27. ^ "Whip Shamsul infected with Covid-19". bangladeshpost.net. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
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