Tk 1,128cr embezzlement alleged
The Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday filed 12 cases against former planning and finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and his family members, among 32 people, on charges of embezzling Tk 1,128 crore by extracting unlawful amounts for fees from migrant workers.
The accused are owners and officials of 12 recruiting agencies.
The other accused include three more former lawmakers鈥擭izam Uddin Hazari, Lieutenant General (retired) Masud Uddin Chowdhury and Benajir Ahmed鈥攁nd well-known business magnate Mohd Noor Ali and his family members.
The agency filed the cases with its Dhaka-1聽 integrated district office following approval of the commission on the day, said its director general for prevention Md Akhtar Hossain.
According to the cases, the accused are charged with embezzling and laundering Tk 1,128 crore which they allegedly took from the workers they sent to Malaysia by charging them excess of the government-set fee Tk 78,990 for each worker.
The statements of the cases said that the 12 recruitment agencies unlawfully took additional Tk 1,67,500 beyond the government-approved rate from each of the over 67,380 workers.
The statement of a case filed against AHM Mustafa Kamal, the owner of Orbital Enterprise, and his wife Kashmiri Kamal, said that from 6,029 workers they took Tk 100 crore excess of the government-fixed rate.
In yet another case, Mustafa Kamal and daughter Nafisa Kamal as co-owners of another company 鈥極rbital International鈥� are accused of embezzling Tk 50 crore from 2,995 workers.
The case against former lawmaker from the Feni-22 constituency, Nizam Uddin Hazari, and his wife Nurjahan Begum states that their company 鈥楽nigdha Overseas,鈥� illegally took Tk 111.5 crore from 6,657 workers.
Snigdha Overseas officials Sheikh Abdullah, Jahangir Alam, M Amirul Islam, Jasim Uddin and Ziaur Rahman have also been accused in the case.
In another case, recruiting agency 鈥楤inimoy International鈥� owner and former Chauddagram upazila chairman Abdus Sobhan Bhuiyan and his wife Taslima Akhtar have been accused on charges of taking Tk 91.42 crore illegally from 5,458 workers.
Masud Uddin Chowdhury, a retired lieutenant general, and his daughter Tasnia Masud, owners of 鈥�5 M International Limited鈥�, and its officials Mohammad Abdul Mukit and Mehbuba Aftab Shathi in another case have been charged with illegally taking Tk 119.32 crore from 7,124 workers.
The ACC has also filed a case against Unique Eastern Ltd owners Mohd Noor Ali, his wife Selina Ali and daughter Nabila Ali, and company officials Nasir Uddin Ahmed and Khandaker Shawkat Hossain on charges of unlawfully taking Tk 63.44 crore from 3,788 workers.
Another case has been filed against Catharsis International Ltd owners Md Ruhul Amin and wife Lutfur Nessa Shelly for taking an additional Tk 130.43 crore from 7,787 workers.
Former lawmaker from the Dhaka-20 constituency Benjir Ahmed, also owner of M/S Ahmed International, has been accused in a case for taking additional Tk 143.91 crore from 8,592 workers.
Shafiqul Islam, former councillor of Badda and owner of BM Travels Ltd, along with his wife Mousumi Akhter, has been accused in another case on charges of unlawfully taking Tk 135.55 crore from 8,093 workers.
The anti-corruption agency has also filed a case against Engineer Ishtiaq Ahmed Soikat, owner of BNS Overseas Ltd, and his wife Nasrun Nessa on charges of illegally taking Tk 70.6 crore from 4,215 workers through his company.
The commission filed a case against Md Mojibur Hossain Rubel, the owner of Rubel Bangladesh, and his wife Kamrun Nahar Hiramoni, alleging that their company illegally charged an additional Tk 47.65 crore from 2,845 workers.
The owners of The Ifti Overseas, Md Rubel and Borhan Uddin (Panna), are among the accused in a case filed on charges of illegally extracting Tk 63.59 crore from 3,797 workers.
The anti-corruption commission said that the recruitment agencies were found to have abused their position by illegally charging workers exorbitant fees in excess of the government鈥檚 approved rate, under the guise of fees for passport handling, health check-up and other administrative services.
The ACC said that its inquiry revealed that these individuals and companies systematically violated Bangladesh鈥檚 recruitment and labour export laws and regulations to exploit the migrant workers.