Keya Group chairman聽 Khaleque among 6 sued for embezzling Tk 526cr
The Anti-Corruption commission on Thursday filed three separate cases against former lawmaker Solaiman Haque Joarder, former chief of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit Masud Biswas, and former director general of the Directorate of Posts Shudhanshu Shekhar Bhadra on charges of corruption.
The agency filed the cases with its integrated Dhaka-1 district office following approval by the commission,聽 said its director general for prevention Md Akter Hossain.
It filed a case against Awami League former lawmaker of Chuadanga-2 constituency Solaiman Haque Joardar and his wife Aktari Joarder over allegations of amassing wealth.
The case statement said that Joarder abused his power to illegally acquire wealth amounting to Tk 7.55 crore through bribery and corruption.
Apart from this, Solaiman also transferred and laundered Tk 15.71 crore by moving funds through bank accounts and investing in various businesses.
The commission filed another case against Solaiman鈥檚 wife, Aktari Joarder, over allegations of amassing illegal wealth of Tk 4.05 crore. Her lawmaker husband was also accused in the case.
Aktari also allegedly transferred and laundered Tk 7.60 crore through bank accounts and investments under the guise of various businesses, said the case statement.
Besides, the agency filed a case against former Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit of Bangladesh Bank chief Masud Biswas on charges of acquiring illegal assets worth Tk 1.87 crore.
The commission also sought the wealth statement of Masud Biswas鈥檚 wife, Kamrun Nahar, over allegations of amassing illegal assets.
Earlier in September, the commission started an inquiry over allegations of corruption, including money laundering, against Masud Biswas who resigned from his post after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.
Apart from the case, the commission also filed a case against Sudhangshu Shekhar Bhadra, former director general of the Directorate of Posts, on charges of causing losses to government and embezzling about Tk 92 crore.
Agency assistant director Md Tanzil Hasan filed the case with its Dhaka 1integrated district office, accusing Sudhangshu over graft charges.
Sudhangshu was the director general for current charge at the Directorate of Posts from April 3, 2019 to December 30, 2020.
While he was project director of the Post e-Centre for Rural Communities from December 17, 2014 to June 30, 2017, he allegedly caused losses of Tk 91.94 crore to the government.
The accused purchased equipment, including Uninterruptible Power Supply storages, for the project violating rules, but he did not take initiative to make sure use of all that equipment.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the commission decided to initiate an inquiry against journalist Munni Saha and her husband, Kabir Hossain Taposh, over allegations of amassing illegal wealth and suspicious transactions of Tk 134 crore in their bank accounts, said its director general Md Aktar Hossain.
Earlier in October, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit found Tk 134 crore of deposits in a bank account linked to Munni Saha.
The account, registered under M/S Promotions, an advertising firm where Munni Saha and her husband Kabir Hossain Taposh are beneficiaries, exhibited unusually high activity.
Munni Saha is listed as the firm鈥檚 nominee, according to BFIU officials who also said that the account, located at One Bank鈥檚 Karwan Bazar branch, was opened on May 2, 2017. Of the total deposits, Tk 120 crore was withdrawn, while the rest Tk 14 crore remained frozen now.
The commission also decided to inquire into the allegations of misappropriation of public funds during installation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman鈥檚 statues and murals across the country.
The allegations include non-functional deep tube wells and mismanagement involving the project director, contractors, and other parties, with losses amounting to thousands of crores of Taka.
The Awami League government installed over 10,000 murals, sculptures and portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during the past 15 years spending about Tk 4,000 crore, it said.
Besides, the commission would also conduct another inquiry over irregularities and excessive billing in the 鈥楳ujib Killa鈥� construction, renovation and development projects, said its director general Aktar Hossain.
The Awami government in 2018 took an initiative for constructing 550 shelters called 鈥楳ujib Kella鈥�, spending Tk 1,997.47 crore in 152 coastal, flood and erosion-prone upazilas to protect people and livestock from natural disasters.
Allegations surfaced that these shelters, built with substandard materials, have already become unusable while parts of the shelters have collapsed in many places. Some of these buildings became abandoned as they were built far from localities.
On the other hand, the commission on Thursday filed two cases against Keya Group chairman Abdul Khaleque Pathan and five officials of Southeast Bank Limited on charges of embezzling Tk 526.7 crore from the bank through loan forgery.
Commission deputy director Azizul Haque filed the two cases with its Dhaka-1 integrated district office, accusing Keya Group chairman Abdul Khaleque Pathan and others.
A case was filed against Abdul Khaleque Pathan, Southeast Bank Limited鈥檚 then senior executive vice president and Gulshan branch manager Mohammad Nurul Islam, vice president and credit in-charge Md Morshed Alam Mamun, vice president and branch head Md Rezwanul Kabir, senior assistant vice president and export in-charges Amiyo Kumar Mallik and Md Ashraful Islam.
The case was filed against them on charges of misusing their power to embezzle Tk 498.38 crore that they withdraw from the bank鈥檚 Gulshan branch without any loan approval from the bank head office.
Another case was also filed against Abdul Khaleque Pathan, Mohammad Nurul Islam, Md Morshed Alam Mamun and Md Ashraful Islam on charges of embezzling Tk 28.32 crore from the Gulshan branch of Southeast Bank in similar way.
