Sayeed Khokon

Sayeed Khokon
সাঈদ খোকন
Member of Parliament
In office 29 January 2024 – 6 August 2024
Preceded by	Kazi Firoz Rashid
Succeeded by	Vacant
Constituency	Dhaka-6
1st Mayor of South Dhaka
In office 7 May 2015 – 7 May 2020
Preceded by	Post established
Succeeded by	Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh
Personal details
Born	(1970-06-19) 19 June 1970 Dhaka, East Pakistan, Pakistan
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Political party	Bangladesh Awami League
Spouse	Farhana Sayeed
Parent	Mohammad Hanif (father)
Alma mater	Dhaka City College
Occupation	Businessman, politician

Sayeed Khokon is a Bangladeshi businessman, politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Dhaka-6 constituency. He was mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation from 2015 to 2020. He is the executive member of the Bangladesh Awami League Central Committee. His father, Mohammad Hanif, was first elected mayor of Dhaka City Corporation. He has been in hiding since the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government on 5 August 2024.

Early life

Khokon's father Mohammad Hanif was the first elected mayor of Dhaka.

Career

Khokon collected nomination form of Awami League on 24 March 2015. He won in the first Dhaka South City Corporation election on 29 April 2015.

On 26 July 2017, Khokon blamed Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority for water logging problems in the city.

On 26 December 2019, Khokon collected Dhaka South City Corporation nomination papers from Awami League. The nomination went to Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Khokon accordingly accepted the decision of the party and party president, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A case was filed against Sayeed Khokon and several other for allegedly embezzling 350m BDT by the Gulistan Fulbaria City Supermarket-2 owners' association president Md Delwar Hossain in December 2020. The money had been paid for allocation of shops in block A between 2015 and 2019 which were later demolished for violating the original design of the complex. 911 shops were demolished by the city corporation on 9 December.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of Dhaka Court on 28 June 2021 order the accounts of Khokon and his wife, sister, and mother be frozen. The accounts were frozen after a request from the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Jalal Uddin Ahmed who was in charge of the investigation on Khokon. On 28 July 2021, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit sought information on accounts held by Khokon from banks in Bangladesh. He blamed his successor, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, for instigating the actions of the Anti Corruption Commission. Taposh did not respond to the allegations. He also alleged his successor kept millions of city corporation funds in Modhumoti Bank Limited, which Taposh owned. Two defamation suits were filed against Khokon for his comments about Taposh but Taposh himself called for their withdrawal.

Khokon was nominated by the Bangladesh Awami League to be the member of parliament for the Dhaka-6 constituency in the 12th National Parliament election. On 7 January 2024, he was elected by a huge margin. The election was reported by international observers to be a one-sided election because it was boycotted by all major opposition parties. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, Khokon's house was ransacked and looted. He has gone into hiding ever since along with his family members.

Corruption

Sayeed Khokon was first accused of corruption when his tenure as mayor ended. Many shopkeepers in Dhaka South City Corporation complained that Sayeed Khokon personally took money from them to make their shop leases permanent. Instead of making the shops permanent, he embezzled the money which led to the shopkeepers losing their money. He has been accused of misappropriating more than Tk. 1,000 crore from Islami Insurance Bangladesh Ltd. (a general insurance company). In 2012, Khokon removed the then chairman Tofazzal Hossain from the board and made himself the chairman. Since then, Khokon has been the chairman of the company without any election. Additionally, eight directors of the company were removed by Khokon and he appointed his own family members as directors, including his wife, sister, wife's sister, sister's husband, two underage daughters and other close relatives. Public companies have to keep two independent directors on their board, one of the independent directors is Javed Ahmed (his sister Shahana Hanif's husband) and the other is the son of Imran Ahmed (vice-chairman of the company). Another one of Khokon's uncles, Humayun Kabir, was also appointed as an independent director. Despite being absent from many board meetings, Khokon, his wife, sister-in-law, daughters, and sister would take fees for attending the board meetings. Khokon also took a unilateral decision to sell the insurance company's two officers located in Purana Paltan & New Paltan, and shifted the company's office to a leased floor in his own building located in Banani.