The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against three individuals, including Bengal Group and National Life Insurance Company Limited Chairman Morshed Alam, on allegations of embezzling over Tk400 crore in a fraudulent land purchase scheme.
The case was registered at the ACC's Integrated District Office, Dhaka-1, on Wednesday, under sections 409, 420, 467, 471, and 109 of the Penal Code.
At a press briefing on Sunday, the Commission’s director general (Prevention), Md Akhtarul Islam, said the case was filed by Shekh Golam Moula, deputy director at the ACC Integrated District Office-1.
According to the case statement, Morshed Alam—along with Saiful Alam, managing director of Bengal Concept & Holdings Ltd and son of Morshed Alam, and Md Jashim Uddin, chairman of Bengal Commercial Bank and brother of Morshed Alam, colluded to misappropriate company funds under the guise of acquiring property for National Life Insurance Company.
The ACC alleges that the accused abused their positions of authority and breached fiduciary duties by facilitating a deal that resulted in the purchase of land owned by their own family members at a grossly inflated price.
Investigators said that the chairman and other officials concealed the conflict of interest by falsely certifying to the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (Idra) that National Life Insurance had no connection with Bengal Concept & Holdings Ltd, the land’s seller.
The ACC claims that three forged valuation certificates were submitted during the approval process.
These documents, allegedly fabricated with fraudulent endorsements from the sub-registrar of Begumganj, the assistant engineer of Chowmuhani Municipality, and the executive engineer of the Public Works Department in Noakhali, said land prices of Tk11,700, Tk11,500, and Tk11,600 per square foot for a 6,000-square-foot plot.
Based on these forged assessments, the commission found that Idra was misled into approving the purchase. While the actual market value of the property and floor space was estimated at Tk37.89 crore, National Life Insurance paid Tk66.5 crore for it.
The payment was made through a payee cheque (No C-2531086 dated January 3, 2016) from the Karwan Bazar branch of NCC Bank, in favour of Bengal Concept & Holdings Ltd, according to the ACC.
A discrepancy of Tk28.6 crore was siphoned off through this transaction, it added.