Popular Life's land purchase under scanner
The insurance watchdog has appointed an audit firm to probe Popular Life Insurance's acquisition of a piece of land in Gulshan, to see if the deal protected the interests of the company and its shareholders.
The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) chose M/s Nurul Faruk Hasan and Co to conduct the audit.
The appointment came after Popular Life Insurance acquired 667.56 decimals of land situated in Gulshan under mouza Karail, involving a substantial amount of money. Several newspaper reports said there were irregularities in the process.
“IDRA, being the regulatory body in the insurance sector, desires to carry out an investigation on the transactions in connection with the purchase of land, especially to see whether the transaction has taken place at arm's length, protecting the interest of the company and its large number of policyholders,” the insurance watchdog said in a statement.
The audit firm will have until November 27 to submit the report to IDRA. The report will contain observations, opinions and recommendations of the audit firm against the investigation findings.
The price of the land has been estimated at Tk 294 crore, of which, Tk 92 crore has already been paid.
“This is policyholders' money. And as the regulator, we are to take care of their interests,” said M Shefaque Ahmed, chairman of IDRA. “Our task is to protect the interests of the policyholders and shareholders. We will see whether there was any violation in investment rules.”
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