More than Tk 100 crore was allegedly taken away from the State University of Bangladesh allegedly by the institution鈥檚 Board of Trustees president AM Shamim through irregularities and corruption.
The SUB BoT president who is also the managing director of Labaid Group allegedly transferred a huge amount of money from the university funds to the accounts of his two companies, according to an allegation submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
It stated that Shamim took the illegal benefits from the SUB funds through irregularities, abusing power, and giving the Private University Act 2010 a thumbs-down.
According to the allegations, SUB鈥檚 seven-storey building on 8.5 kathas of land, along with furniture and air conditioners at the capital鈥檚 Satmasjid road in Dhanmondi, was sold for Tk 80 crore on February 15, 2024, to M/S MA Zaher Limited.
Despite having a regular bank account of the university at the Dhanmondi branch of Trust Bank, SUB received Tk 35 crore from MA Zaher on February 15,聽 2024, by opening a new account at the Shatmasjid Road branch of Shajalal Islami Bank in Dhaka on January 11, 2024.
Soon after depositing the money on February 15, Tk 5 crore, out of Tk 35 crore, was transferred from the Shahjalal Bank to an account of Labaid Limited owned by Shamim at the Dhanmondi branch of Dhaka Bank, Tk 4 crore to the account of Labaid Limited at the Mirpur branch of NCC bank, Tk 19 crore to the account of Labaid Properties Limited owned by Shamim at the Dhanmondi branch of Trust Bank, and Tk 1.70 crore was withdrawn by Labaid group official Zillur Rahman.
Only Tk 5.30 crore was transferred from Shajalal Bank to the regular account of SUB at the Dhanmondi branch of Trust Bank.
Shamim also withdrew Tk 1.34 crore from the Tk 5.30 crore on four different dates between February 28 and March 18 from SUB account at Trust Bank.
Just after 13 days of transferring the money, the account of SUB at Shahjalal Bank was closed.
Rakib Uddin Ahmed, senior vice president and head of the Shahjalal Islami Bank鈥檚 Shatmasjid branch, said, 鈥楽tate University had opened an account in the past year but it is now closed.鈥�
Rakib, however, declined to give further details.
Officials said that there was no transaction except TK 35 crore in the account while BoT president Shamim鈥檚 personal mobile number was given in the account document.
The then SUB vice-chancellor (in charge) Professor Chowdury Mofijur Rahman and its treasurer, Professor Md Hassan Kawsar, were also in the dark about the SUB鈥檚 account at Shahjalal Bank.
Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman said, 鈥業 did not know anything regarding the sale of the SUB鈥檚 Dhanmondi campus or the new bank account.鈥�
SUB treasurer Md Hassan Kawsar said that the university had no bank account at Shajalal Islami Bank.
According to the allegation submitted to the ACC, on February 15, Tk 35 crore was received from MA Zaher through Shahjalal Bank while Tk 20 crore in cash by SUB against selling the property.
Apart from this, Tk 25 crore was also taken from the MA Zaher as earnest money, stated the allegations.
BoT chairman Shamim allegedly took Tk 74.70 crore out of the Tk 80 crore from the sale of the old campus鈥� land and building, and only Tk 5.30 crore was transferred to the university鈥檚 regular account at Dhanmondi branch of Trust Bank.
However, talking to 抖阴精品, BoT chairman AM Shamim claimed that the land and building price was not Tk 80 crore, it was sold for Tk 35 crore.
He denied any irregularities and corruption at the university but could not give any clear clarification as to why the money was transferred from the SUB funds to his company鈥檚 accounts.
According to land developers and builders, the market value of the property will be between Tk 60 crore and Tk 80 crore.
The SUB sold the property to M/S MA Zaher on February 15 this year and the registration of the land was held at the Dhanmondi Sub Registrar Office in Dhaka, said officials.
M/S MA Zaher is a sister concern of Mallika Group Bangladesh, owned by former Awami League lawmaker MA Zaher of Cumilla-5 constituency.
Mallika Group chairman MA Zaher and M/S MA Zaher鈥檚 managing director Arup All Rakib could not be reached for comments as they are now on the run.
A top official of SUB said that the property of SUB鈥檚 Shatmasjid Road campus was sold assuring BoT members that the money would be used to resolve the university鈥檚 severe financial crisis.
SUB former vice chancellor Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman said that no meeting of the finance committee was held during his tenure as a VC (in-charge) between October 2023 and the time of his resignation in the past month.
鈥業 was appointed as VC on condition that I would not interfere in any financial issues of the university,鈥� he said.
Apart from this, there is also an allegation that SUB trustees took Tk 14 crore from the university after taking a loan in the name of SUB from Trust Bank on May 8, 2018.
Later, another Tk 14 crore was also taken as loans on different dates between January 22, 2020, and May 11, 2020, from Trust Bank in the name of the university.
Although SUB did not get a single penny of the loan money, the university is paying Tk 55 lakh to Trust Bank every month as an installment of the loan, according to the allegations.
BoT members also withdrew money from the university鈥檚 fixed deposit. In December 2012, the trustees took away Tk 4.10 crore from the interest of Tk 5 crore FDR.
Later, they also took Tk 4.32 crore on May 8, 2023 from the interest of the FDR without any approval.
SUB trustees also took away Tk 4 crore from the funds of the State College of Health Science during the Covid pandemic.
The BOT members are also allegedly taking a huge amount of money in the name of sitting allowances without giving attention to the development of the private university.
State University, established in 2002, launched its activities at the Dhanmondi campus for a long time but early in the current year, SUB shifted its activities to its permanent campus near Kanchan Bridge in Purbacahal.
Rejecting the allegations of corruption, BoT president AM Shamim said that they were providing a huge amount of money for the development works at the university.