Apan Jewellers owners get 6 days to produce papers
Dhaka: The Apan Jewellers owners have been given six more days to submit their legal documents of gold to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID).
CIID granted the time following requests from three owners of the jewellery brand -- Dildar Ahmed and his two brothers Gulzar Ahmed and Azad Ahmed -- after they appeared before it in the morning.
The three Apan Jewellers owners appeared before the CIID office at Kakrail around 11:30 am. Besides, Advocate Jahangir Kabir, a lawyer of Raintree Hotel, turned up at the same time.
The hotel owner was also given six days to appear before the CIID office as his lawyer submitted a time petition citing his client's illness.
Briefing reporters in the afternoon, CIID Director General Dr Moinul Khan said the owners of Apan Jewellers were given six more days for submitting relevant documents of their gold. "They were asked to appear before the office on May 23 with supporting documents."
Replying to a query, he said the CIID has already seized around 13.50 maunds of gold ornaments from the Apan Jewellers showrooms. Customers, who ordered for ornaments, can receive their ornaments from the respective showrooms on May 22 showing valid receipts.
Talking to reporters in the afternoon, Dildar claimed that he and his brothers have been running the business legally for the last 40 years. "We have been running our business paying VAT and taxes," he said.
Earlier on Monday, the CIID asked them to appear before it with their valid documents to face interrogation.
On May 14, a number of CIID teams in separate drives seized 286 kilograms of gold and 61 grams of diamond without valid documents from Gulshan, Uttara, Mouchak and Shimanta Square branches of Apan Jewellers.
The team also sealed off a branch of the jewellery brand at Suvastu Tower in Gulshan as they found it locked.
Besides, another team of CIID seized 10 bottles of foreign liquor from a room of Raintree Hotel on Sunday.
Dildar is in the limelight after the rape of two private university girls by his son Shafat and his cohorts in Banani's Raintree Hotel recently.