ACC to investigate Salman over alleged smuggling of Tk36,000cr, looting thousands of crores of taka thru stock market fraud

The Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to launch an investigation into Beximco Group Vice Chairman  Salman F Rahman over various allegations, including smuggling Tk36,000cr abroad by taking loans from banks, embezzlement, illegally amassing wealth, share market fraud, and others.

The ACC will also investigate similar allegations against former lawmaker from Bhola-3 Nurunnubi Chowdhury Shaon and former environment minister Shahab Uddin.

The anti-graft body took the initiatives following media reports published by the Daily Kaler Kantho and Daily Ittefaq on 16 August, according to a press statement.

The ACC has decided to forward the reported allegations from the Special Investigation Wing of the commission to the Director General (Special Investigation) for Investigation, reads the press statement.

Among the accused, Salman F Rahman, also former private industry and investment adviser to the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has allegedly embezzled and looted thousands of crores of shareholders' taka through stock market fraud, and manipulation of shares placement.

The entities of Salman F Rahman borrowed more than Tk36,000 crore from banks, mostly from state-owned ones, despite his unacceptable track record as a borrower — non-payment and rescheduling until asking for a much bigger loan — and it all was a vulgar display of power, according to media reports.

Salman has been a widely identified man behind the stock market scams in 1996 and 2010.

Using courts during Awami League tenures, he suppressed any action against him based on investigators' findings. And the impunity just kept fuelling his hunger for bigger scams through bank loans and the capital market.

Not repaying investors was in his DNA as observed in the cases of non-repayment of several debentures even after one and half decade of maturity.

Later in 2020-21, he paid debenture investors back and came up with several hundred times bigger schemes in forms of Beximco Green Sukuk worth Tk3,000 crore that was forcefully sold to banks or a Tk1,000 crore zero coupon bond by a greenfield real estate firm last year that was sold to individuals in a misleading way while he transferred the default risks to IFIC Bank under his control then.

His attempt to collect further Tk1,500 crore through another Beximco bond earlier this year was not fully successful due to the political regime change.

He was cleared through the high court in the mid-2010s from the 1996 stock market scam charges. Also the Khondokar Ibrahim Khaled report mentioned him as one of the key manipulators responsible for the 2010 scam and asked the government, regulators to remain careful about him.

Sheikh Hasina did not lend an ear, instead making him the most powerful man in the economic administration in 2019.

During the pandemic, Beximco Limited showed unbelievable profits and its shares surged to nearly Tk200 from Tk14 in three years. Salman's intimidating phone calls for not selling Beximco shares during the rally and forcing state owned banks to buy at high prices were the talk of the town in 2022.

Besides, Salman and his associates were behind manipulating many other stocks in the past five years, according to market people.

How much he amassed from the stock market scams is yet to be learned. It is believed to be worth thousands of crore. 

Shaon and Shahab Uddin 

Former environment minister Md Shahab Uddin is accused of amassing illegal wealth during his tenure.

He allegedly committed irregularities and corruption by making a trade out of transfers of ministry and directorate officials abusing his power. 

He is also accused of corruption in the Tk1,502 crore "SUFAL project" financed by the World Bank, said the ACC.

Detailing his alleged corruption, the ACC wrote that the minister and his son gave work to contractors with a 10% commission in the "SUFAL Project" financed by the World Bank and embezzled millions of taka by showing false expenses in various sectors.

He transferred and posted forest officials in exchange for bribes of Tk80-90 lakh, the anti-graft body also stated.

Besides, they issue certificates without inspection to various factories that generate liquid wastes which have a serious impact on environmental pollution.

According to information received from the sources, during the ACC investigation, the agency also found that Shahab Uddin forced the then-chairman of BFDIC to hand over the National Housing Authority's land to the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust by signing the resolution for the land in exchange for about Tk 7 crore. 

Former lawmaker for Bhola-3 Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shaon is accused of amassing illegal wealth through various irregularities and corruption, including abuse of power.

The ACC states that in fiscal year 2021-22, under the maintenance of rural infrastructure project for Lalmohan and Tajumaddin upazila, Shaon embezzled over Tk2.29 crore from the "Kabikha" or the "Work Exchange Food Programme", and over Tk3.59 crore from the "Taka for Work Programme". 

Besides, he is also accused of embezzling 260.39 tonnes of wheat and 234.33 tonnes of rice allocated to various projects.