ACC sues Al-Arafah Islami Bank director

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday filed a case against an incumbent director of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited for allegedly laundering Tk 1.68 crore in Singapore.

ACC filed the case against Badiur Rahman, who was also chairman of the bank's board of directors between 2008 and 2016, with Motijheel Police Station.

According to the case statement, Badiur, who has been a director since 1995, set up a company, Ariel Maritime (Pvt) Ltd, in Singapore with three directors.

The authorised capital of the company was SGD 1 million and the paid-up capital was SGD 50,000. Badiur's invested capital was SGD 25,000 in 2003 and he has been operating the company since then. His investment increased to SGD 0.5 million, equivalent to Tk 1,68,38,800.

According to ACC, Badiur could not show any acceptable documents to prove legitimacy of the source of income that he invested in the company.

“His claim of collecting capital from abroad soon after visiting Singapore in 2003 is also not acceptable,” reads the case statement. To conceal the source of income, he misused his power as a director and secretly transferred the money, it adds.

WASA OFFICIAL ARRESTED

Meanwhile, an ACC team yesterday caught a field officer of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), Jahidur Rahman, red-handed while taking Tk 2 lakh bribe from a person, said Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, ACC's public relations officer.

He said Jahidur demanded Tk 5 lakh from Ashek Sadeq Chowdhury, manager of Goldcoast International, for regularising monthly bill of a deep tube-well set up in 2015.

Jahidur threatened to disconnect the water connection if he was not given the money.

Later, Ashek agreed to give him Tk 2 lakh and decided to meet Jahidur at his office at Wasa's Revenue Zone-9 at Uttara (sector-6) yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ashek informed the matter to ACC, which following all legal procedures arrested the field officer. A case was filed with Uttara (east) Police Station.

REB GM SUED

ACC yesterday filed a case against the general manager of the Rural Electrification Board (REB), Nitai Kumar Sarkar, for allegedly misappropriating Tk 10 lakh. A case was filed in this connection with Santhia Police Station.

According to the case statement, while working as the general manager at REB-2 of Pabna, Nitai borrowed Tk 10 lakh from REB by submitting false documents in September 2011.

Nitai, who is now the general manager of REB in Natore, “did not repay the loan fully; misused his power and misappropriated the money,” reads the case statement.