A Chittagong court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for City Group Chairman Fazlur Rahman, in a case filed by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).
Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Kazi Shariful Islam's court issued this warrant after a hearing, said Osman Gani, bench assistant of the court.
Earlier, on October 20, 2019, BSTI inspector Rajiv Dasgupta filed a case as the group’s “Teer” oil lacked the Vitamin A it advertises and does not possess a BSTI license.
According to the court, under the Vitamin A Enrichment in Edible Oil Act, 2013, the BSTI examines the quality of edible oils refined and marketed in Bangladesh.
Samples of fortified soybean palm oil collected from City Group's “Messrs VOTT Oil Refinery Factory” in Chittagong's North Patenga area failed the “Vitamin-A” test run by BSTI.
This is a violation of Sections 15 and 21 of the BSTI Act 2018, as well as an offence punishable under Sections 27 and 29. It also violates Sections 4(1) and 4(2) of the Vitamin 'A' Fortification in Edible Oil Act, 2013, which is a punishable offence under Sections 16(1) and 16(2) of the same Act.
BSTI's panel lawyer Md Ashraf Uddin Khandkar said after the case was filed, the chairman of City Group was summoned by the court but he did not appear.
He was later granted bail by the High Court.
Due to his failure to appear in the lower court during the previous 12 rounds of hearing, the court ordered the accused's arrest after a petition was filed by the plaintiff.
City Group Director (Finance) Biswajit Saha told Dhaka Tribune that the case is very old.
“As you know, he is very sick. He moves with a pacemaker. The court issue is a legal matter. We will deal with it legally,” he added.
According to the Vitamin A Enrichment Act-2013, no edible oil can be sold, stored, supplied, marketed, or commercialized without Vitamin A Enrichment.
No refined edible oils which are not enriched with Vitamin A at specified levels can be imported as well.
Even after the law was enacted, many of the country's top companies are not active in implementing the law.
Violations of the law are punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.
According to City Group's edible oil testing report, the amount of Vitamin A found in their fortified soybean oil from September 8 to 16, 2019, was 3.16 (mg/kg).
According to the law, the standard level of vitamin intake is 15.30 (mg/kg).
On the other hand, Vitamin A levels in fortified palm oil made at the same time were found to be 6.47 (mg/kg).
