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 List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Awami League politician and a former Member of Parliament from

Chittagong-12 Chittagong-12 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh. Since 6 August 2024 the constituency is ''Vacant''. Boundaries The constituency encompasses all but five union parishads of Patiya Upazila: ...

. He is also the general secretary of

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

based football club Chittagong Abahani.

Early life

Chowdhury was born 20 July 1957 in Shovonandi,

Patiya Upazila Patiya () is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. History During the British rule, a police station(thana) was established in Patiya in 1845. It was upgraded to an ''upazila'' in 1984. The region saw revolution ...

Chittagong District Chittagong District (), ( Chatgaiya: Sitang/Chatga), officially Chattogram District, is a district located in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. Due to its geographical location, Chittagong is classified as a s ...

Career

Chowdhury received the prestigious National Sports Award 2013 in Organizer (football) category. 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 Salahuddin (; born 23 September 1953) is a Bangladeshi former football player currently serving as the president of South Asian Football Federation. He previously served as the president of Bangladesh Football Federation from 2008 to 2024. ...

. 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

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

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn'') is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, ...

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

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

who found cards used for gambling. Chowdhury told the

Prothom Alo ''Prothom Alo'' () is a Bengali language, Bengali-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka. It is one of the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to the National Media Survey of 2018, conducted by Kantar MRB ...

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. The case was dropped in May 2023. Chowdhury commented:

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 Politicians from Chittagong Division Government College of Commerce, Chittagong alumni