ACC moves to prosecute Salman F Rahman, family over alleged Tk 28.57bn embezzlement

The cases centre on allegations that loans and export financing from state-owned Janata Bank were obtained in the names of four Beximco Group companies

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved four cases against Salman F Rahman, his brother and their sons over allegations of embezzlement and money laundering involving billions of taka from state-owned Jamuna Bank.

The cases relate to the alleged misappropriation of Tk 28.57 billion obtained in the name of loans, the commission's Director-General Md Akhtar Hossain said on Thursday.

A total of 94 people have been named as accused in the cases.

Salman is the vice-chairman of the Beximco Group and previously served as private industry and investment advisor to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. His brother, Sohel F Rahman, is the chairman of the industrial conglomerate.

Their sons, Shayan Fazlur Rahman and Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, also hold positions at various levels within the group, according to officials.

According to the ACC, the Beximco Group set up 24 companies to access funds from the Export Development Fund (EDF). Four of those companies are accused of misappropriating large sums by securing loans and EDF facilities from Janata Bank’s local office in Dhaka, leading to the approval of four new cases.

The ACC had earlier filed five cases in November last year against Salman and others over alleged embezzlement and money laundering involving Tk 19.5 billion from the same bank.

ACC documents allege that in the first case, $480.98 million was misappropriated in the name of Yellow Apparels Limited, equivalent to Tk 4.16 billion.

The second case concerns Pink Maker Garments Limited, with alleged misappropriation of $790.45 million, equivalent to Tk 6.75 billion,

In the third case, Apollo Apparels Limited is accused of misappropriating $846 million or approximately Tk 7.19 billion.

The fourth case involves Bay City Apparels Limited, where the largest sum, $1.23 billion, equivalent to about Tk 10.47 billion, is alleged to have been misappropriated.

The ACC says the funds were obtained through abuse of power and collusion, with EDF and Bangladesh Bank letter-of-credit facilities approved for several newly established and inexperienced garment factories.

Investigators allege the companies showed fictitious import and export transactions among themselves, creating so-called “accommodation bills” to withdraw large amounts of foreign currency.

The commission further alleges that the money was transferred, converted and layered to launder the funds, and that bank officials knowingly approved the irregularities while in office, enabling the misappropriation of large sums through a state-owned bank, with part of the money allegedly siphoned off abroad.