Top officials of UFS laundered Tk 170cr
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has decided to file a case against some top officials of an asset management company for laundering Tk 170.69 crore from four open-ended mutual funds.
Mutual funds pool money from investors to channel them into securities such as stocks and bonds. Open-ended mutual funds are not listed with the stock market but one can buy and sell them at a fund manager's office.
The stock market regulator found that the officials of Universal Financial Solutions (UFS), including Managing Director Sayed Hamza Alamgir, had first misappropriated the money in 2022.
The four funds are UFS-Bank Asia Unit Fund, UFS-IBBL Shariah Unit Fund, UFS-Padma Life Islamic Unit Fund and UFS-Popular Life Unit Fund.
Of the amount, Tk 58.90 crore was embezzled in the pretext of investments in short-term debt securities, Tk 47.92 crore in fixed deposit receipts and Tk 63.87 crore through illegal withdrawals or transfers after the sale on listed securities.
In addition, the four mutual funds were overcharged by an estimated Tk 5.82 crore, said the inquiry report.
"The committee was surprised to see that almost the full misappropriated amount has been laundered in different ways," it said.
The committee was formed to dig deeper after it preliminarily found that Tk 158 crore of UFS Asset Management's funds had been misappropriated.
The BSEC found that Alamgir is mainly liable for the laundering incident as he was the main signatory who embezzled the funds and transferred it to his associates.
Mominul Hoque, its chief investment officer, Sakib Al Farouq, manager, and Md Hafizur Rahman Rajib, head of fund operation, were also found to be involved in the fraudulent activities.
The BSEC in a press release yesterday said it has decided to file the case under the money laundering prevention act 2012.
It also decided to issue a show cause notice on the then officials of the custodian department of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh for their failure in preventing the fraudulence.
The BSEC also said it was going to urge Financial Reporting Council to take action against the auditors of the asset management company as they failed to detect the irregularities.
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