Ex-FM Morshed Khan leaves for London by chartered flight in pandemic

Former foreign minister M Morshed Khan has left Bangladesh for Britain by a chartered plane amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The plane left Bangladesh on Thursday and Morshed’s wife Nasrin Khan was with him, said Mofidur Rahman, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

He is “seriously” ill and will undergo medical check-up in London, his aide told bdnews24.com on Friday.

Another former minister who had talked to Morshed’s family said Morshed had left Dhaka amid fears of coronavirus infection.

“He [Morshed] had to leave fast because the treatment is not good here,” he said.

Morshed has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments.

He stepped down from the BNP as a vice-chairman last year citing personal reasons.

Morshed had worked as a special envoy to BNP chief Khaleda Zia with the rank of a minister when she was prime minister in 1991.

He was elected MP three times from Chattogram-10 constituency.

Morshed and his family had invested in Bangladesh’s first mobile phone operator Citycell, now closed, Pacific Motors, Arab Bangladesh Bank and several other business ventures.

His daughter is married to the son of Salman F Rahman, the prime minister’s adviser on private industry and investment.

On Jun 10 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission slapped an overseas travel ban on Morshed Khan, who is also a former chairman of AB Bank.

Initiated in June 2017, the case accuses 16 people of embezzling Tk 3.83 billion borrowed from lenders for Citycell against AB Bank’s guarantee, against which the bank required nothing.

Mir Shahidul Islam, the chief of police’s Special Branch, said Morshed and his wife showed a copy of a High Court order staying the ACC travel ban before leaving.