[🇧🇩] Everything about Hasina's misrule/Laundered Money etc.

Date of Event: Nov 11, 2024

Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/sheikh-hasina-was-a-classic-autocrat-m-sakhawat-hossain

Sheikh Hasina was a classic autocrat: M Sakhawat Hossain
Published :
Aug 05, 2024 22:03
Updated :
Aug 05, 2024 22:03

Sheikh Hasina was a classic autocrat who dismissed the people, and this disdain has led to her current predicament, according to Brigadier General (Retd) M. Sakhawat Hossain, an election analyst and former military officer. In a special interview with UNB news agency over the phone, he expressed these views.
He stated that today's events were inevitable and were bound to happen. "We have seen similar situations in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. Popular uprisings are unstoppable. The student quota reform movement could have been resolved easily, but due to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's stubbornness, so many people lost their lives."

Hossain criticised the media's portrayal of the casualties, claiming that the true number is closer to 400, with a significant portion being students and young people. He questioned the whereabouts of the remaining bodies, mass graves, and the extent of innocent lives lost. "She has gone, but who will answer for this?" he asked.

He accused the ruling government of carrying out the "most heinous massacre" and of misleading the public by blaming criminals while those responsible were, in fact, their own countrymen. "Such things should not happen in a free country," he remarked.

Hossain also noted that for the past 15 years, people have been unable to vote properly, with widespread election fraud. He stated that Sheikh Hasina should have understood her and her party's unpopularity, and questioned who would be held accountable for the bloodshed. He criticized the severe lack of good governance, which he believes Sheikh Hasina failed to provide.

Furthermore, he alleged that Sheikh Hasina has created criminal gangs within the country and turned the police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) into her personal enforcers.

Reflecting on the plight of the family members of the so-called Father of the Nation, he questioned why they had to face such a tragic fate, attributing it to Hasina's arrogance and pride. He drew a parallel with the 2009 BDR mutiny, where 57 army officers were killed, and questioned who would answer for that incident as well.

He criticised Sheikh Hasina's control over TV media and her suppression of free speech, citing it as a reason he avoided talk shows. He claimed he had urged the Prime Minister in various meetings to ensure good governance, but was labelled as an 'agent of the opposition' for his criticisms.

"Today, Sheikh Hasina has fled the country, and now the army has had to take responsibility for the nation's situation," he concluded.​

 

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The second LC (0000026321150038), dated May 30, 2021, also involved imports of capital machinery worth $792.40 million. This LC was also opened at the same Rupali Bank branch.

 

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Between June 15, 2021, and December 30, 2022, $698.33 million were taken out of the country against this LC using fake Bills of Entry.

Nearly $99.58 million of the $914 million value of the two LCs remains unspent, documents show.

SEPCO did not respond to our email seeking comments. The phone numbers of the company's two representatives in Bangladesh were found switched off over the last three days.

One hundred eighty-four fake invoices – 59 for the first LC and 125 for the second LC – were uploaded on the BB server to launder the $815.78 million.​

 

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The Daily Star verified each of these invoices with the NBR server, and found they were not related to the two LCs opened by SS power for the import of capital machinery.

"There is no import data on our server against these two LCs," Mohammad Fyzur Rahman, who was Chattogram Custom House Commissioner until recently, told The Daily Star last month. [He is currently a commissioner at Customs Excise and VAT Commissionerate, Dhaka (North)].

RUPALI'S ROLE
So how did the money fly out of Bangladesh? The answer lies with Rupali Bank.

When any import and export data are uploaded on the NBR server, the data get posted on the Bangladesh Bank server automatically. In this case, however, NBR did not upload any import data because there was no import. Still, all these 184 invoices made their way into the BB server.

"Usually, customs officials upload import data on the NBR server. However, the banks concerned can also upload this data after collecting the information from the importer," said an official at the Foreign Exchange Operation Department of Bangladesh Bank.

In this case, the details of these invoices were uploaded by the respective branch of Rupali Bank, he said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"This cannot be done without the involvement of some top officials of the bank concerned," he said.

As a standard practice, the central bank clears LC payments upon confirmation from the importer's bank that the import process has been completed and the import value has been deposited in the bank in local currency. This can be done online.

Documents show that the information required for the central bank to clear the dollar payment in favour of the Chinese company were uploaded on Bangladesh Bank server by Rupali Bank. This includes the 184 fake invoices.​

 

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NBR data show 88 of the 184 invoices are linked to 50 companies unrelated to SS Power and SEPCO joint venture. The LC numbers, import dates and the exporting companies recorded on the NBR server against these fake invoices also do not match with the corresponding data uploaded on the BB server.

At least one of these invoices even bears a future date – November 29, 2025 – and at least 30 are related to EXPORTS – not import – by different companies that have no links with SS Power.​

The remaining 96 invoices do relate to SS Power, but these products were imported using at least seven different Import Permissions (IPs) and have no connections with these two LCs.

Usually, the commerce ministry issues IPs for imports against foreign loan agreements or back-to-back LCs.

The Daily Star has copies of two of these seven IPs, granted under four conditions.​

"No foreign currency can be spent from Bangladesh end for this particular import," reads the first condition.

This means that even if these 96 invoices against the seven IPs were genuine – and they were not – SS Power violated the IP conditions.

The Daily Star shared its findings and some related documents with Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Husne Ara Shikha.

"We will verify the information and speak with the relevant authorities, including the bank concerned. We cannot make any comment before this," she said.​