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Crippling Corruption by Awami League regime

Sheikh Hasina's lie and corruption on back to back London trip

Sheikh Hasina went to London twice recently with 36 some entourage with false information that she was invited on some hunger conference. In reality when queried British PM office who called on the conference said Hasina was not even officially invited, was not in the list of speaker in the conference and was not seen at conf site.

St. Pancras Renaissance hotel Sheikh Hasina stayed, average room cost is $400 USD. With 36 some people and airfare cost ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars for two back to back trips. Awami League for sure doing brisk business with looting and laundering money out of the country.

Report in Bangla:
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Awami League for sure doing brisk business with looting and laundering And
looting money out of the country.
And they are ones that have been frothing on Tariq's phantom brisk business.? Like Advani screams Terra-Terra by pointing his finger on PAK just to legalize the breakup of Babri Masjid, like Modi's thugs blame Muslims for putting fire on a train just to burn Gujrati Muslims by thousands; similarly their BDeshi out-fit is mastering the tactics of 'Chorer Maa'r Boro Ghola' aar 'Chori to Chori abaar Shinajuri', taina?
 
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Adviser's shadow in Hallmark scam
Modasser Ali denies allegation; anti-graft body quizzes 5 Sonali Bank officials

ulfikar Ali Manik

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has information that Syed Modasser Ali, an adviser to the prime minister, allegedly influenced Sonali Bank authorities into granting a huge amount of loan to the controversial Hallmark Group illegally, said ACC sources.

“The information came from different sources and we are examining it. However, we do not yet have any documentary evidence about the alleged role of the adviser in allocating to Hallmark and five other companies the loan,” said an ACC official wishing anonymity.

ACC sources said a few of the five Sonali Bank officials, who went to the commission office yesterday and were quizzed by a six-member ACC investigation team, also gave the investigators hints about the advisor's involvement in the scam.

During the daylong (from 9:30am to 4:00pm) grilling, a few of the Sonali Bank officials told the investigators that they had seen Modasser Ali visiting the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of the bank frequently, said the sources.

The bank officials said they thought the adviser might have played a role in influencing the bank authorities into granting loans to Hallmark and five other business organisations as he used to enquire about the development of the loan process.

Contacted last night, Modasser Ali, health and social welfare adviser to PM, denied the allegation. He said, “There is no question of requesting anyone to sanction the loan as I had no idea about the scam until reports were published in the newspapers about it.”

He said, “I go there (Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank) as my pension account is with this branch.”

He also said one of his relatives worked there and the branch manager was from his home district Gopalganj. “I happen to know the owner of Hallmark Group and attended some programmes of the organisation but I had no idea about the loan,” he added.

Previously, a Bangladesh Bank investigation found that the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank had lent Hallmark Group and five other companies Tk 3,547 crore between 2010 and May this year on forged documents.

Of the Tk 3,547 crore loan, Hallmark Group alone took Tk 2,686.14 crore while T and Brothers Tk 609.69 crore, Paragon Group Tk 146.60 crore, Nakshi Knit Tk 66.36 crore, DN Sports Tk 33.25 crore and Khanjahan Ali Tk 4.96 crore.


The ACC sources said they had also received information that Modasser Ali tried to prevent the Bangladesh Bank audit team when it went to the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch a few months ago from conducting an audit on the loan scam.

They said when the adviser came to know that a BB audit team had gone to Sonali Bank, he initially stopped them by using his power. But later, high ups of the central bank took measures to ensure the investigation by their audit team at Sonali Bank regarding the loan scam.

A Bangladesh Bank official also confirmed this incident. He did not wish to be named.

Asked about this allegation, the PM's adviser said he was at the bank one day and it was almost lunch hour. He stayed there for a while as he was asked to have his meal there.

At that time, he came to know that a Bangladesh Bank audit team was working there as there had been a problem. But he was not aware of the problem, said Modasser.

The adviser said a member of the audit team talked to him about a problem and that he had given the Bangladesh Bank official his visiting card so that the official could visit him if he faced any difficulties.

Three of the five Sonali Bank officials quizzed by the ACC yesterday are from the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch that gave the controversial loan. They are senior officers Mihir Chandra Mojumder and Md Wahiduzzaman and junior officer Md Saidur Rahman.

The other two officials were Dhaka office general managers Mir Mohidur Rahman and Nani Gopal Nath.

The six-member ACC investigation team, led by one of its deputy directors Mir Md Zainul Abedin Shebly, yesterday quizzed the five bank officials as part of the investigation into the much-talked-about loan scam of the age-old state-owned bank.

The other five investigators of the team are Deputy Director Akhter Hamid, assistant directors Nazmus Sadat, Moshiur Rahman and deputy assistant directors Mohammad Mojibur Rahman and Zainal Abedin.

ACC sources said the aim of questioning the officials was to find out their involvement in sanctioning the loan and what they knew about the loan scam.

The sources said the ACC team would quiz all the 32 Sonali Bank officials who had been identified as responsible for the loan scam in the Bangladesh Bank probe.

Earlier, the ACC questioned eight other officials of the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of the bank, including its Manager AKM Azizur Rahman, who is from the same district as the PM's adviser, said the sources.

An ACC official said according to Bangladesh Bank rules, an official cannot serve as a branch manager of the bank for more than three years, but Azizur was serving for five years as the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch manager.

“We also have information from different sources that the adviser might have used his influence to keep Azizur Rahman as the branch manager for more than the stipulated period,” said the official seeking anonymity.

ACC sources said the bank officials denied their involvement in the loan scam but gave their statements to the investigators.

Earlier, the investigators quizzed the owner of the four spinning mills that were set up on paper by Hallmark in its own interest.

ACC officials said they would gradually quiz more officials from the GM Office of Sonali Bank Ltd and other top-level officials of the bank.

Adviser's shadow in Hallmark scam
 
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Here is another district level Awami League leader who was made director of largest state owned bank Sonali bank became rich with unlimited corruption. According to her wealth statement she filed 3 and half years ago when Awami League came to power (with EC) her salary was only 10 thousand taka and she was a school teacher. But in threee and half years Awami league in power she and her family accumulated wealth in hundred of crores taka.

Report in Bangla:
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PM’s circle holy no more

Ataus Samad

The malodorous slick of corruption has now flowed in right up to the doorstep of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). And the sickening flow is threatening to become a huge dark wave as the amount of money stolen from just one state-owned bank, where Awami League predators prowl, has set a record even in this corruption-ridden country. One of alleged ring-leaders in this unbelievable bank-fraud had been seen in close proximity of one of the cabinet-ranking advisers of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

With this latest scandal breaking out from the deep dark shadows into the glare of public knowledge the number of official advisers of the Prime Minister who have been named in relation to cases of alleged corruption and swindling stands at three out of six. These advisers sit at the PMO. Also, one minister and another former minister are subject of investigation either for alleged corruption or for wrongdoing. However, these five are only a few among many. Upon completing her first year in office Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had claimed that none has been able to point a finger for corruption at any member of her cabinet in that time and that’s what made the difference between her government and that of BNP-led four-party alliance (2001 * 2006).

At that time she had brushed aside the newspaper reports appearing very frequently of grabbing government contracts by force by members of the Awami League and its front organisations. Those reports were often accompanied by photographs of armed violence by the contract-grabbers. Even now the Prime Minister and persons seeking her favour react angrily to any suggestion that people near to her as well as other influential Awami Leaguers are indulging in corruption. But howsoever loudly Sheikh Hasina and her friends may protest it is now clear to all that she and her government have been unable or unwilling to control corruption. And there is little that she can do now to scrub clean this sullied image of her party, government and even that of some of her kith and kin as investigations into charges of corruption related to the Bangladesh government have spread to other countries (e.g, Canada and USA). If the government wished then a fresh case could be investigated in Netherlands.

The latest episode is, however, stunning. An inspection team of the Bangladesh Bank has discovered that an amount of Tk.3547 crores has been spirited away from the Sonali Bank, the largest of the state-owned banks, by way of loans and false letters of credit. Out of this astronomical figure just one company, by the name of Hall Mark, took Tk. 2686.14 crores. This money was siphoned out through just one branch of the bank in Dhaka. By some strange coincident Prime Minister’s adviser reputed ophthalmologist Syed Modasser used to visit that branch of the bank as well as had been a guest of honour with the Hall Mark group on several occasions. Dr. Modasser however claims his activities to be political socialisation. Interestingly, on one occasion when he was at that particular branch of the bank present too was an inquiry team of the Bangladesh Bank.

The cabinet-ranking adviser had a friendly chat with that team. The not-so-famous independent Anti-corruption Commission of Bangladesh is investigating into the Sonali Bank case upon being requested by the Bangladesh Bank. So far none has been detained for being involved with the alleged swindle. But Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith and the Sonali Bank’s Board of Directors on the one side and the Bangladesh Bank on the other have become gloriously involved in a row on the matter. The finance minister has said that the Bangladesh Bank had no authority to suggest that the present board of the Sonali Bank be sacked. And the Awami League-laden board of directors, some of whom are also alleged to have made tons of money, has claimed that they had nothing to do with the irregularities, in fact they say they did not even know anything about it. They forget the simple question: if they did not know about so much money being skimmed off from their bank then what were they doing in the board room? Precisely this riddle also begs an answer to the simple question: why is the finance minister angry with the Bangladesh Bank for finally acting up just a little. And is not it strange that even after a prima facie case has been established by the Bangladesh Bank not one person has been detained by the government up to yesterday?

The ravaging of the Bangladesh Railway, the destruction of highways and byways, the murderous situation at many a government hospital, the skimming off of the government treasury for paying subsidy to private small power suppliers, runaway inflation (which continues even after the Eid-ul Fitr festival), the hopeless situation at the wrecked share market, frequent non-political disturbances at reputed educational institutions, nagging labour trouble in the garment industry, police’s inability to prevent murders, disappearances and deaths in road accidents and now the rampant plunder of depositors’ money from even state-owned banks and the interference in the Grameen Bank clearly indicate that the government of the day itself has fallen into a state of chaos and indiscipline. It is not only a weak, intolerant and repressive government too willing to break the heads of protesters, but it is a government incapable of governance. It is sad.

Holiday
 
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According to Awami League regime finance minister corruption and scandal involving 4000 crore taka is no big deal.

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Hallmark scam blown out of proportion: Muhith
Blasts media and says WB working in ****** spirit

Wednesday, 05 September 2012
DHAKA, SEPT 4: Finance minister AMA Muhith said on Tuesday that the Tk 4,000 crore Hallmark scam is not as big as it has been projected by the media. He also came down heavily on the World Bank (WB) and the media for telescoping the scandal. Criticising the WB, the minister said its integrity cell is working in a ****** spirit. “This is an unaccountable office which should be corrected,” the minister noted, adding that some evil components should also be eliminated from there.

“The bank is handling the issue in a way that is unacceptable,” the minister said, apparently referring to the World Bank's stand regarding the PMB project.

He criticised the local media for highlighting bank loan scandals, apparently referring to the recent Hallmark scam in the state-owned Sonali Bank.

“We give Tk. 40,000 as loans every year. The scam of Tk 4,000 crore is nothing compared to this amount.

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Hallmark scam blown out of proportion: Muhith
 
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High-profile scams propel country into financial mire
Scams keep taking place as no timely action taken in past: experts

Shakhawat Hossain

A series of high-profile financial scams coupled with alleged misappropriation of public find through controversial rental power plants are leading the country to financial ‘bankruptcy,’ experts said.
Available public data say that around Tk 30,000 crore has been misappropriated alone in three cases — share market collapse, illegal banking activities by Destiny Multipurpose Society Limited and the recently-in-focus Hallmark Group scam in the state-owned Sonali Bank.

Rental power plant scam
Moreover, purchase of electricity from the privately owned plants at an average rate of Tk 17 cost the public exchequer Tk 32,000 in subsidy in the past financial year.

Influential figures of the ruling party who set up the plants are mostly benefited from the exorbitant rate, said economist Anu Muhammad, also a leader of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports.


Experts said that the misappropriation of public fund in the power sector was delicate but the embezzlement of fund in the financial sector was shocking.

They said that such misappropriation continued happening as no governments in the past had taken any timely action against such matters.

[Stock market Scam]
The share market scam of 2010 rendered hundreds of thousands of marginal investors penniless. Retail investors lost at least Tk 20,000 crore to dishonest traders who were in collusion with stock market regulators, according to a government investigation.

[Sonali bank scam]
The biggest state-owned commercial bank Sonali Bank is now tottering in the wake of the single largest swindle of about Tk 3,600 crore by the Hallmark Group and five other companies.


[Destiny group scam]
The Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd has been involved in illegal banking throughout the country and has misappropriated at least Tk 5,000 crore.


They said that such gross financial embezzlement, in an impoverished country like Bangladesh, is possible only because of the collusion between greedy businessmen, politicians and government officials.

Transparency International Bangladesh’s executive director Iftekharuzzaman told New Age that the state is being at the diktats of a section of very powerful people who are patronising crooked businessmen.‘This is leading the country to a state of bankruptcy,’ he said.

The TIB chief pointed out that failure by the successive governments to bring the culprits to the book was the main reason behind the continuation of huge financial scams.Iftekharuzzaman pointed out that the present government did not do anything to punish the persons identified as being involved in the huge share market scam as per the findings of a probe body.

Bangladesh Bank’s former deputy governor Ibrahim Khaled was appointed by the government to lead the probe body after the worst-ever collapse of the capital market.

The DGEN, the key index of the share market, lost 21 per cent in one month between December 2101 and January 2011, allowing the market manipulators to pocket about Tk 50 billion in just one month.

Ibrahim Khaled said the government has not taken any action against the guilty parties.
No doubt they are powerful, but they are not stronger than the government, he said, adding the investors have lost confidence because of the government’s inaction.

The DGEN continued its fall through 2011 and is now hovering at around 4,000 points from close to 8,900 points during the October-November period in 2010.

Destiny, a multi-level marketing company, was collecting savings from its members despite repeated objections by officials of the Bangladesh Bank.

But for some inexplicable reason the officials failed to take timely action by freezing the suspected bank accounts and allowed Destiny’s executives to withdraw more than Tk 40 billion early this year.

Destiny used to keep many high officials in its pay-roll in order to do its illegal business uninterruptedly for the last 10 years. Former army chief and war hero, Lieutenant General (retired) Harunur Rashid, is the group’s president.

With the Destiny issue still remaining unresolved, Hallmark Group’s scam rocked the whole financial sector. The group and its five shady sister concerns embezzled Tk 3,547 crore from Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch between 2010 and May this year by using fake documents.
Of the Tk 3,547 crore, Hallmark Group alone took away Tk 2,686.14 crore, T and Brothers Tk 609.69 crore, Paragon Group Tk 146.60 crore, Nakshi Knit Tk 66.36 crore, DN Sports Tk 33.25 crore and Khanjahan Ali Tk 4.96 crore.

White collar crime like bank loan default has been persisting under successive governments once it began in the 1980s during the era of dictator HM Ershad.But the swindles in the financial sector under the Awami League government have eclipsed all the previous ones.

‘The incidence of financial crimes in recent years is higher than those of the previous years,’ said the Anti-corruption Commission’s chairman, Ghulam Rahman.

He told New Age on last week that regulatory and administrative bodies have completely failed to perform their duty.

‘Things have worsened further because of the slowness of the existing judicial system,’ he added, indicating the time-consuming investigation and trial process which is often marred by political intervention.

New Age | Newspaper
 
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Hallmark was given loan 3 times the amount of Sonali bank paid up capital. Also Hallmark was allowed to show property price 19 times more than actual value. Now any prospect of getting back such huge amount is dim. Beyond that who in Awami League regime involved in the whole scam will be never known as long Awami League is in power. Awami League finance minister already trying to protect these involved. These repeated corruptions have exposed another damage Awami League regime has done – Awami League party men are recklessly appointed n all state owned bank boards. Such Awami politicization made it easy for Awami League to do such large scale looting.
Now Hallmark is trying to use their land as collateral which is already shown 19 times overvalued from market price. One scam to cover up previous scam – hallmark of Awami League lie and looting.

Report in Bangla
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Padma Loan Graft - Mashiur won't quit taking responsibility

Staff Correspondent

Prime minister's adviser Mashiur Rahman yesterday said he would not resign taking responsibility for the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project.

He, however, said he would go if the World Bank agreed to give the $1.2 billion loan, which the bank has cancelled in June.

"I will resign ten times if the World Bank gives the assistance on my resignation," he told reporters at Shahjalal International Airport on his return from India after a four-day visit. Gowher Rizvi, another adviser of the premier, was with him during the visit.

"But, neither I nor my party and my country will accept the blame," Mashiur added.

He also called on the WB to make public the names of the people who gave "false" information to the bank.

"It's unjust and unlawful," he said, adding that the WB should hand these people over to the Bangladesh government.

Earlier on several occasions, Mashiur dismissed the allegation that he was a party to the "corruption conspiracy" that the WB had been insisting to have found in the bridge's project.

Recently, the WB has given a clear signal to the government that it would withdraw the cancellation of the pledged loan if the government met three conditions, including the removal of Mashiur.

During their India visit, Mashiur and Rizvi met Indian Power Minister M Veerappa Moily, Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Tipaimukh power project, Teesta water-sharing, transit and transhipment, and implementation of the land boundary accord were among the issues discussed.

Mashiur claimed that India gave them all the information regarding the Tipaimukh project.

Mashiur won't quit taking responsibility
 
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Whole Awami league regime is in thick of bank looting. In 2010 Bangladesh Bank informed Sonali bank board of directors which is heavily politicized by appointing Awami league party man, about the huge scam. Sonali bank board of directors did not take any action. Then in 2011 Bangladesh Bank again informed Awami League finance minister about the scam and no action taken. Instead Awami League finance minister was taunting Bangladesh Bank on their authority and termed 4000 core taka scam as nothing.

News in Bangla:
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Ex Chief Justice Khairul Huq brother is an accomplice of Awami League bank looting

One of the main accomplices of Awami League bank looting was Sonali bank deputy managing director (DMD) Mainul Huq. This Mainul Huq is none other than younger brother of chief justice Khairul Haque who cancelled constitutional provision of caretaker govt for free and fair election. Looks like Awami looting and corruption culture run deep within party and Awami family.

Mainul Huq has record of previous corruption at different banks but appointed DMD at Sonali bank by Awami League regime for one purpose only – facilitate wholesale Awami League looting.

News in Bangla:
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As Vhua existence of Ram Mandir's rhetoric led to break up a real architecture named Babri Masjid, like Vhua/non-existing Muslim's hand on putting fire in Samjota Express caused the death of over 5000 innocent followers of peaceful religion; similiarly vhua TK 14000/= Crores in Tariq's possession led RAWAMY Chors/Thieves to loot over TK 140000/= crores. 'Fabrication of science to the nadir of immortal’s magnitude' was never been in Muslim's dictionary but in the Malaun's one throughout the history.
 
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