Shamsul Haque Chowdhury (Bengali: সাম্শুল চোলুধী) (born 20 July 1957) is a Bangladeshi Awami League politician and the current Member of Parliament for Chittagong-12 Constituency. He is also the general secretary of Chittagong based football club Chittagong Abahani.

First half of life

Chowdhury was born on 20 July 1957 in Sobhanandi of Patia Upazila of Chittagong District.

working life

Chowdhury was a councilor of the Bangladesh Football Federation in 2008. In April 2008, before the Bangladesh Football Federation elections, he filed a motion challenging the candidature of Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, Ghulam Rabbani Helal and Kazi Salahuddin. The Federation Election Commission rejected his proposal. In July 2008, he was made a member of the Development Committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation.

Chowdhury was elected Member of Parliament from Chittagong-11 as an Awami League candidate in 2008. In January 2012, he was investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged irregularities in the distribution of government relief.

Chowdhury was elected to parliament from Chittagong-12 in 2014 as an Awami League candidate. He filled nomination form for the post of Vice-President of Bangladesh Football Federation in April 2016.

Chowdhury is the General Secretary of Chittagong Abahani Football Club based in Chittagong. He is the Chairperson of District Football Association (DFA) Monitoring Committee of Bangladesh Football Federation. He was re-elected Member of Parliament from Chittagong-12 Constituency as Awami League candidate.

Cards used for gambling were recovered during the operation of the Rapid Action Battalion in Chittagong Abahani. Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that if the youths are not allowed to play cards, they will shout at people and express their anger at the operation of the law enforcement agencies. Chittagong Awami League vice-president Khorshed Alam Sujan said Chowdhury was an "infiltrator" who had previously been elected ward commissioner on Jatiya Party nomination in the 1980s. He also said that gambling in Chittagong's Abahani Club is an 'open secret'. Chowdhury's son Nazmul Karim Chowdhury Sharun also came under fire after a leaked phone call threatening Chittagong Awami League Sports Affairs Secretary Didarul Alam Chowdhury. Around the same time, a video of Sharon firing an AK-style rifle went viral in Bangladesh and drew criticism for it. After the video, he was dropped from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's traveling party at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit.

On 26 September 2019, Mahmood Saiful Amin, an inspector of the Bangladesh Police, was dismissed after he alleged that Chowdhury was involved in casino operations in Chittagong and collected money from them along with some corrupt police officers. On 19 October 2019, the Anti-Corruption Commission announced that it was investigating Chowdhury and several other Awami League politicians for alleged corruption and involvement in illegal casino operations. A travel ban was imposed on him in November 2019