Sajjadur Rahman
bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent
Dhaka, April 10 (bdnews24.com) – A shadowy 'Bangladeshi prince' lurks behind the Rupali Bank deal: Moosa Bin Shamsher.
The finding came to light as the handover of the state-run bank has reached the final stage. It may be complete—some say—by the end of April after a lot of jolts in negotiations in the last six months.
Moosa—widely known as the "Prince of Bangladesh" abroad, especially in the Middle East-is the main man handling Rupali purchase in favour of Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud.
Moosa receives a copy of each correspondence made by Prince Bandar regarding Rupali Bank purchase. bdnews24.com has one such letter sent by the Saudi billionaire to the Privatisation Commission on March 17.
Prince Bandar won the bid for a 67.26 percent Rupali stake for $330 million last year. This year he has offered to buy the remaining government-held stake of 26 percent for $128 million.
The government on Feb 22 agreed in principle to sell the remainder of the shares to the Saudi prince.
Prince Bandar's bids have so far been actively backed by Moosa, an alleged international arms dealer of Bangladesh origin.
Moosa has allegedly been an accused in a number of criminal cases that, among others, charge him with tax evasion and hiding the body of a DATCO agent Nazrul Islam after murder.
He was also an accused in the attempted murder case of Prabir Shikder, the then Dainik Janakantha correspondent for Faridpur district, in 2001.
In a recent development, a general diary was filed against him with the Airport Police Station on March 1 on charges of cheating people seeking jobs abroad.
"A businessman Mohammad Mahfuz Ullah filed the GD seeking a ban on Moosa's leaving the country by air," investigation officer Rabiul Islam told bdnews24.com Saturday.
Mahfuz Ullah said Moosa had taken Tk 1.88 crore from different people promising them overseas jobs through his agency DATCO in Banani, Dhaka.
DATCO was formed in 1974 by four directors from the US, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, including Prince Bandar and Moosa, the DATCO website says.
In the past Moosa hogged the world-media headlines on several occasions for his flamboyant lifestyle and an alleged attempt to donate to Britain's Labour Party.
"It is through Moosa that Prince Bandar became interested in investing in Bangladesh," Sir Frank Peters, Prince Bandar's senior adviser dealing with the Rupali purchase, told bdnews24.com in an email.
"A while back Prince Bandar agreed in principle to invest in Bangladesh if the right opportunity came along. Rupali Bank came on the market and Prince Bandar perceived this to be the opportunity—the first of many (if all goes well)," he said.
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