Shamsul Haque Chowdhury () (born 20 July 1957) is a

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Awami League politician and a present Member of Parliament from Chittagong-12. He is also the general secretary of

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

based football club

Chittagong Abahani Chittagong Abahani Limited ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also spelled as Chattogram Abahani or Chittagong Abahoni, is a sports club based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A wing of Abahani Limited was ...

Early life

Chowdhury was born 20 July 1957 in Shovonandi, Patiya Upazila,

Chittagong District Chittagong District, renamed the Chattogram District, is a district located in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chattogram Division. The port city of Chattogram, which is the second largest city in Bangladesh, is ...

Career

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 Kazi Md. Salahuddin ( bn, কাজী সালাউদ্দিন; born 23 September 1953) is a Bangladeshi former football player currently serving as a president of South Asian Football Federation. He was a member of the Shadhin Bangla F ...

. His motion was dismissed by the election commission of the federation. In July 2008, he was made a member of the development committee of Bangladesh Football Federation. Chowdhury was elected to Parliament from Chittagong-11 in 2008 as a candidate of Awami League. In January 2012, he was investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission for allegation of irregularities over the distribution of government relief. Chowdhury was elected to parliament from Chittagong-12 as a candidate of Awami League in 2014. he filled nomination papers for the post of Vice-President of Bangladesh Football Federation in April 2016. Chowdhury is the general secretary of

based football club

. He is the chairperson of District Football Association (DFA) Monitoring Committee of

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānlādēśa phuṭabala phēḍārēśana'') is the governing body that administrates the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national tea ...

. He was re-elected to parliament from Chittagong-12 as a candidate of Awami League.

was raided by

Rapid Action Battalion Rapid Action Battalion or RAB, is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Border Guard Bangladesh, Ba ...

who found cards used for gambling. Chowdhury told the

Prothom Alo ''The Daily Prothom Alo'' ( bn, প্রথম আলো) is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducte ...

that if the youth weren't allowed to play cards they would mug people and expressed anger over the raids by law enforcement agencies. 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. He also said it was an "open secret" that gambling took place at Abahani club in Chittagong. 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. Around the same time a video of Sharun shooting an Ak style rifle went viral in Bangladesh and for which he faced criticism. After the video, he was excluded from the entourage of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum. 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. 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. The commission announced it was getting ready to file charges against Chowdhury. In November 2019 a travel ban was imposed on him.

Personal life

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Shamsul Haque Awami League politicians 1957 births Living people 11th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members People from Chittagong District