Home
+
Published : 03 Sep 2025, 09:41 PM
Pran Gopal Dutta, elected unopposed from Cumilla-7 in the 2021 by-election, secured his Awami League nomination by donating to Saima Wazed Putul’s Suchona Foundation, according to a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The case alleges that Suchona Foundation was a “fake” organisation set up to collect bribes in the name of donations.
The national anti-graft agency accused Putul, daughter of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, along with 34 others of misappropriating funds under this scheme.
Assistant Director Mohammad Monirul Islam lodged the case on Tuesday at the ACC’s Integrated District Office, Dhaka-1, said the agencys’ Deputy Director Md Akhtarul Islam.
On Monday, ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain told the media of the decision to proceed with the case.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), based on the ACC investigations, Suchona Foundation collected Tk 196.9 million in alleged bribes, presented as donations, from 14 people and organisations. One of them was Pran Gopal.
“Among individual bribe-givers, Pran Gopal Dutta won the Cumilla-7 seat in 2021. He provided funds to Suchona Foundation as bribes and illegal gratification to secure his nomination from the Awami League.”
The ACC launched its inquiry into the foundation after Aug 5 last year. On Nov 24, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit froze the foundation’s bank accounts, while the National Board of Revenue revoked its tax exemption in February this year.
On Jan 29, ACC raided the foundation’s office and declared it “non-existent”. The case document also says during field inspections, no operational activities were found, and local residents confirmed that they had never seen the foundation active.
According to investigators, Putul and the other accused formed Suchona Foundation as a “paper organisation” and obtained registration from the NGO Bureau and the Department of Social Services.
They allegedly took money from several people and organisations under the guise of donations, offering illegal favours in return, but instead of spending the money on welfare for people with disabilities, they misappropriated it.
The ACC alleges that the accused laundered and embezzled Tk 4.48 billion, abusing their power and colluding to benefit from the tax-exempt status of the donations.
In addition, the accused allegedly evaded Tk 9.9 million in taxes between the tax years 2015-16 and 2024-25.
The commission also reported suspicious transactions amounting to Tk 9.31 billion across 14 bank accounts opened under the name of Suchona Foundation.
