It is one of the several industries on the human backs of which the Bangladesh economy has grown so fast, and on which its GDP remains so heavily dependent. But the Prince is famous less for his business acumen or his contributions to national GDP than he is for sharing sight of his prodigious wealth. The reason everyone in Bangladesh knows the Prince is the video tour of his Gulshan palace, available at the time of writing on YouTube. The camera scans blankly awestruck across chandeliers, fitted carpet, and sizeable oil paintings of the Prince and his scions in heavy carved gold frames.
That which is not gilt is richly crimson, or sparkles with crystal and electric light. Walk-in closets the size of a middle-class Dhaka apartment contain the legendarily spangled wardrobe. The imagination fails in its effort to measure the abundance on show. How rich is this man? We are fascinated. Moosa Bin Shamsher is best discussed for a luxurious pen by which he signs.
There are diamond pieces in this pen and the making company only makes the single pen for him, there is no other version of this pen in the world.
The precious pen is stored in the bolt of Swiss Bank with doest guard. In needed the pen is taken to a certain place and brought back again with the highest protection.
Many of us fail to resist the temptation to gape. When last checked, some 8, people, the present author included, had viewed a PowerPoint presentation about Prince Moosa. The slide show, of unknown authorship, states details of his birth, providing such vital statistics as his Zodiac sign given as Leo, despite a recorded birth date of October 15 , impressive educational attainments, net worth in the billions, those frozen in Swiss bank accounts notwithstanding , and main business accomplishments.
Set to tinny handbag house music, estimated values for his personal possessions are provided. One slide states:. The spelling and the lack of concession to international financial norms suggest the cultural referents are more local than global.
There are other signs that this singular self-exposure is for a domestic audience. He may himself have sold arms or manpower around the world, making his fortune in the global economy, albeit its more insalubrious sectors. Yet with his dazzling personal appearance and shiny residence, the line of expensive cars in the driveway, and the line of telephones on his desk, it is a performance surely intended not for an international audience but for the vernacular middle classes of Bangladesh.
I am struck by the bank of telephones on the mahogany-style desk. As a child in the early s I remember being deeply impressed when visiting the home of a government minister by their many multi-coloured telephones - the only evidence I can now recall of their wealth and power. I read it as power, and that is what it signaled. But that was forty years ago. In Bangladesh, a notoriously chatty society, mobile telephony was embraced with such speed that landlines are now no longer even ornamental.
Yet there they are, lined up neatly on said desk, in what otherwise presents as a contemporary video. In one clip, he picks up a receiver. Dr Moosa told this correspondent that he along with his team is working sincerely for sustaining the Hasina government.
He, however, regretted that his initiative has not still been evaluated by the government. Bangladesh , Moosa , ISI. Related Images. Related Videos. The Anti-Corruption Commission ACC initiated inquiries against him in and following newspaper reports on his properties and lavish lifestyle.
He was sued by the ACC in for providing false information regarding the Swiss Bank account, and land ownership in Savar and Gazipur. The same year, the International Crimes Tribunal investigators initiated a probe against Moosa over allegations of siding with the Pakistani Army during the Liberation War. In , his name appeared in the Paradise Papers, the second largest leak of documents pertaining to tax evasion. Home Bangladesh. DB: Moosa has nothing of his vast wealth Tribune Report.
File photo of Moosa Bin Shamsher Collected. Leave a Comment. Please read our Comment Policy before posting. Court defers verdict in journalist Probir Sikdar case again. High Court: ACC should not act like a snake without venom. Report in tax evasion case against Prince Moosa on April Tax evasion: Probe report in case against Moosa delayed. Report in tax evasion case against Moosa on Sept
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