Cheating thru’ 36 cheques
A racket that includes officials tampered with at least 36 cheques and stole almost Tk 7 crore from a bank account of Jashore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education in the last five years, an investigation found.
The education board's College Inspector KM Rabbani, who led a five-member committee to probe the embezzlement, said the stolen money was cleared through five different banks.
The committee's findings include the names of "a number of individuals" who could have been involved in the crime, he told The Daily Star, without going into further details.
The probe report was submitted to Jashore Education Board Secretary Prof AMH Ali R Reza. Interestingly, Prof Reza is one of the accused in a case filed over the embezzlement in October.
Inspector Rabbani said the official procedure is to submit such reports to the secretary.
An internal audit of the education board earlier found that about Tk 7 crore was withdrawn from its account through 36 cheques containing the signatures of the board chairman and secretary. The cheques were issued to 10 business outlets and three board officials.
The education board on October 10 filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission in Jashore.
Eight days later, the ACC filed a case accusing the education board Chairman Prof Mollah Amir Hossain, Secretary Prof Reza, Accounts Assistant Abdus Salam, local printing press owner Sheikh Shariful Islam Babu, and stationery shop owner Ashraful Alam.
"The chairman and secretary were accused because their signatures were on the tampered cheques," Md Nazmus Sadat, deputy director of Jashore ACC, told The Daily Star, adding that both the officials admitted that they signed the cheques.
"Of the 36 cheques, at least nine were issued to two business outlets that had no bills due with the board," he added.
THE EMBEZZLEMENT
Audit Officer Abdus Salam Azad said a team of auditors on October 7 found a mismatch between the amounts written in different parts of a cheque.
According to the complaints filed by the education board's audit department, the money was embezzled from account no 2323240000024 of Sonali bank's Jashore Board branch through cheque tampering.
Emdad Hossain, head of accounts and audit section of the board, said, "The amounts mentioned in our ledger and on the cheques were different from the amounts withdrawn from the bank."
Emdad added that Accounts Assistant Abdus Salam, who was accused in the case, went into hiding after the board lodged the complaint. He later returned around Tk 30 lakh in two phases through bank drafts.
He said the accounts section used to be "too dependent on Salam".
According to the complaints, the stolen money was withdrawn by Venus Printing and Packaging, Shahilal Store, Business IT, Noor Enterprise, Khwaza Printing Press,Nihar Printing Press, Samia Electric, Mim Printing Press, Sharif Printing and Packaging, and Arpanet.
More suspects might be identified through investigation, said ACC Deputy Director Sadat.
'NO MANIPULATION IN OUR SYSTEM'
The board uses its own software to maintain its accounts and the exam related operations, said Senior System Analyst Jahangir Kabir.
Information on monetary disbursement is a few clicks away for the authorised individuals, he said.
"There has been no manipulation in our system. We print our cheques on A4 papers containing three parts: counterpart, forwarding part and main cheque. The chairman and secretary had their signatures on it," Jahangir said.
He added that the probe committee members found that the digital record of the cheques contained no fault.
The record of the expenditures is stored in the system and there is no way of tempering with it, said Rabbani.
"We found a mismatch of the font on a cheque submitted to the bank for disbursement," he added.
SM Shahidur Reza, manager of Sonali Bank Jashore Education Board branch, said the bankers cleared the cheque since the signatures of the chairman and secretary matched.
At least seven cheques were settled with the Jashore branch of First Security Islami Bank.
Branch Manager Riaz Hasan said the cash against the seven cheques was paid to Venus Print and Packaging because Sonali cleared the cheques.
Education board secretary Prof Reza said, "We have formed a probe committee that could uncover how the money was stolen."
Chairman Prof Dr Molla Amir Hossen's phone was found switched off.
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