The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved the charge sheet against former Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC) manager Abul Kashem and 34 other senior officials different institutions over embezzling around Tk25 crore in insurance premiums through collusion from 2010-2020.
The national anti-graft body cleared the file on Monday. Investigating Officer (IO) Assistant Director Mohammad Sirajul Haque will soon submit the charge sheet to the court.
Abul Kashem, the manager of the audit and compliance department at the head office of SBC, was a mastermind who led the scam. a team led by ACC Assistant Director Sirajul Islam arrested Abul Kashem from Motijheel area on July 19.
He had created fake documents through forgery, using fake NID to open a bank account and deposited around Tk27.8 crore at Imamganj branch of Exim Bank while he was the manager of SBC's New Market branch in 2009-2010.
Also Read- High Court directs ACC to remove IO over bribery allegation
In order to open a bank account, at least two signatories are required. But Kashem opened a bank account by appointing a person named Rafiqul Islam as the DGM of Central Accounts Department of the SBC head office. However, there was no one named Rafiqul Islam at the SBC.
Kashem later deposited premium insurance money of SBC customers into the account and proceeded to embezzle nearly Tk26.15 crore by withdrawing the cash and transferring the funds to various bank accounts.
The premium amount produced as part of maritime insurance with the SBC of various projects of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDP), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), and Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).
Over the last 10 years, the Power Division, BCSIR and Buet had imported various products for hundreds of projects at the expense of maritime insurance premiums.
However, the insurance is no longer effective once the ship arrived in the country. As a result, Abul Kashem and his associates took the opportunity to withdraw money from the Imamganj branch of Exim Bank every month.
Also Read- ACC approves seven cases against PK Halder, 29 others
After importing any product, SBC asked BPDB to make payments of premium and other bills. Later, the SBC finance branch sent it to the insurance branch, and finally the insurance branch issued cheques to the SBC.
But the officials of the BPDB never checked whether the SBC received the cheques or not.
Similarly, the other officials of the BCSIR, Buet and Exam bank also never audited or checked throughout the process.
The ACC found evidence that Kashem had embezzled the amount as a result of their cooperation.
From April 1, 2010 to 2017, they embezzled Tk10 crore and more than Tk16 crore in the last three years, the commission found after analysing the bank accounts.
Also Read- ACC sues former Botiaghata police OC, his wife
Later, the amount were transferred to the bank accounts of Sumi Traders, owned by Abul Kashem's wife Nasreen Akter, AB Bank and Brac Bank of Comilla branch, the City Bank, Bank Asia’s Scotia Branch, Elephant Road and Motijheel branches of Exim Bank and also invested in a plot of Uttara Housing Limited.
The other 34 associate of Kashem include SBC manager Zahirul Islam; Musa Ahmed, former AVP and manager of Exim Bank Limited, Imamganj Branch; Muhammad Mizanur Rahman, assistant director of Directorate of Planning and Development at Buet; Dr Shelina Begum, deputy director of the SMAE Institutions; Jasim Uddin Akhand, controller at Buet; Upendra Chandra Das, Kazi Asraful Haque, controller of accounts and finance at BPDB; and Dr Swapan Kumar Roy, chief scientific officer of BCSIR.