Hasina, Rehana prosecuted over ‘embezzlement’ of Tk 2.76bn in CSR funds from 41 banks

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has prosecuted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and another person for allegedly collecting and embezzling Tk 2.76 billion from the CSR funds of 41 banks in the name of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust.

The other accused is Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder, former president of the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) and former chairman of EXIM Bank.

ACC Assistant Director Md Ismail Hossain filed a case on Thursday at the ACC’s Integrated District Office, Dhaka-1.

ACC Secretary Md Saidur Rahman Khan later briefed journalists on the case.

According to the case documents, the accused, “in collusion with one another, through abuse of power and criminal breach of trust,” collected a total of Tk 2.76 billion from the CSR funds of 41 banks in favour of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust.

The case alleges that this caused financial loss to the state.

The case documents say the trust had Hasina as its president and Rehana as its vice-president.

The agency said its investigation reviewed information and records obtained from 41 scheduled banks in Bangladesh. It found that Nazrul, who was then president of the BAB, raised a proposal during an executive committee meeting to provide money to the trust from the banks’ CSR funds, even though the matter was not on the meeting’s agenda.

The executive committee subsequently decided on the matter.

Based on that decision, letters were sent to the banks specifying how much each bank would contribute.

The ACC said a total of Tk 2.76 billion was subsequently collected from the CSR funds of the 41 banks.

The case states that Bangladesh Bank’s CSR policy contains no provision for providing donations to such a trust.

The statement refers to Bangladesh Bank’s DOS Circular dated Jun 1, 2008, as well as the rules contained in the Policy Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility for Banks and Financial Institutions, published in 2022.

The ACC said that during a physical inspection, investigators found no evidence of any office activities at the address given for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust.

The case also claims that the trust is not an organisation approved by the Department of Social Services or the NGO Affairs Bureau.

According to the ACC, the investigation also found no evidence that the activities promised by the trust had actually been carried out.

The case alleges that Hasina and Rehana established the organisation with an “ulterior motive of personal gain” and, by “exerting influence through the BAB,” collected money from the CSR funds of the banks.

The ACC claims Nazrul, while serving as BAB president, used the influence of then-prime minister Hasina and played a role in securing the decision to provide money from the CSR funds of 41 banks to the trust.

It further alleges that although there was no provision for making such donations to the trust from CSR funds, the banks were “forced” to provide the money through an abuse of power.