Bashundhara chief sued for misappropriating Tk 5.26 crore

Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam, chairman and managing director of East West Properties Development Ltd, a concern of Bashundhara Group, and four others were sued yesterday on charges of misappropriating Tk 5.26 crore from two buyers.
Two separate cases were filed by Shafiuddin Ahmed, managing director of Jalal Ahmed Spinning Mills Ltd; and Ashraful Alam, a director of Shah Fatehullah Textile Mills Ltd; with the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka.
The other accused are Sadat Sobhan, Shah Alam's son and a director of the development company; Mahbub Morshed Hasan, the company's vice-chairman; Towhidul Islam, the company's deputy managing director; and MA Hassan, the company's assistant general manager.
In the statements of the cases, the plaintiffs said they each bought two five-katha plots from the company's Baridhara project on November 19, 2007 costing them Tk 2.63 crore per person, including registration fees.
Following the registration, they erected walls around the four plots.
But on October 10 this year when they went to discuss plans to construct their houses, the company asked them to pay Tk 4 crore more saying that the price had gone up.
On October 30, the company cancelled the agreements and put up their own signboard on the plots.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan recorded the statements of the complainants and directed the officer-in-charge of Badda Police Station to investigate the cases and submit reports by January 31 next year.
Earlier on December 27, the four accused were sued on charges of misappropriating Tk 3.93 crore from Selim Ahmed, the director of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association.
On December 18, North South University Chairman Mohammad Shahjahan filed another case against Shah Alam for embezzling Tk 2.63 crore.