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[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.thedailystar.net/news/investigative-stories/news/ss-power-plant-s-alam-nexus-laundered-815m-through-two-lcs-3712256[/URL]SS Power Plant: S Alam nexus laundered $815m through two LCs[ATTACH=full]8864[/ATTACH]Two LCs, 184 fake invoices, and the money was gone.This is how SS Power Limited, a concern of S Alam Group, laundered $815.78 million (around Tk 10,000 crore) from Bangladesh between 2019 and 2023, draining the country's hard-earned dollars.SS Power opened the LCs to import capital machinery for its Chattogram-based 1320MW coal-based plant, but even a single item did not enter Bangladesh against these LCs. And yet the money crossed the border as monitoring by the authorities took back seat.[ATTACH=full]8865[/ATTACH]Both LCs were opened at state-run Rupali Bank, and the Bangladesh Bank transferred the amount to SS Power's Chinese partner SEPCO based on documents, including fake invoices, furnished by Rupali Bank, an investigation by The Daily Star has found.Large-scale capital flight has been reported in Bangladesh media over the last 15 years, but this is for the first time that a newspaper has followed the paper trails and gathered documentary evidence of money laundering using LCs as a cover.The documents SS Power used to siphon off the money include invoices related to previous imports by other companies, invalid invoices bearing future dates of 2025, unrelated Import Permissions (IPs) and even EXPORT – not import – documents.SS Power's Chief Financial Officer Ebadath Hossain Bhuiyan denied that any money has gone out of Bangladesh against these two LCs."These import payments were made through loans from our Chinese partner [SEPCO]," he told The Daily Star by phone on September 23, and advised us to talk to the Rupali Bank authorities.Abu Naser Mohammad Masud, General Manager of Rupali Bank's Motijheel branch, confirmed that no loan money was involved in making the payments. "The total value of the two LCs was $914 million. Of this, payments worth $815.78 million were cleared from Bangladesh," he told this newspaper at his office on Tuesday.$815 MILLION OUT, NOTHING INIn 2016, now-deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly inaugurated the 1320MW power plant in the port city's Banshkhali. Beijing provided $2.6 billion (75%) of the fund in loan to build the plant, a joint venture by S Alam's SS Power and SEPCO. The plant started partial production in 2023, according to media reports.The two LCs in question were opened under duty-free benefits to import vital machinery such as boiler structure, generator, transformer, steel structure and reheater systems for this project. But documents show the LCs were used instead as a cover to steal dollars from Bangladesh and stash them in some other countries.The first LC (LC no. 0000026319150005) worth $121.95 million was opened on January 29, 2019, at Rupali Bank's local branch in Motijheel, Dhaka.The first invoice (873670) claiming $371,873 against this LC was recorded on the BB server on May 27, 2019, and the last invoice (230261) claiming another $576,569 on February 3, 2023. In between, $120,498,430 more were transferred to the account of SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation, the Chinese partner of SS Power, documents from Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue show.[ATTACH=full]8866[/ATTACH]
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.thedailystar.net/news/investigative-stories/news/ss-power-plant-s-alam-nexus-laundered-815m-through-two-lcs-3712256[/URL]
SS Power Plant: S Alam nexus laundered $815m through two LCs
[ATTACH=full]8864[/ATTACH]
Two LCs, 184 fake invoices, and the money was gone.
This is how SS Power Limited, a concern of S Alam Group, laundered $815.78 million (around Tk 10,000 crore) from Bangladesh between 2019 and 2023, draining the country's hard-earned dollars.
SS Power opened the LCs to import capital machinery for its Chattogram-based 1320MW coal-based plant, but even a single item did not enter Bangladesh against these LCs. And yet the money crossed the border as monitoring by the authorities took back seat.
[ATTACH=full]8865[/ATTACH]
Both LCs were opened at state-run Rupali Bank, and the Bangladesh Bank transferred the amount to SS Power's Chinese partner SEPCO based on documents, including fake invoices, furnished by Rupali Bank, an investigation by The Daily Star has found.
Large-scale capital flight has been reported in Bangladesh media over the last 15 years, but this is for the first time that a newspaper has followed the paper trails and gathered documentary evidence of money laundering using LCs as a cover.
The documents SS Power used to siphon off the money include invoices related to previous imports by other companies, invalid invoices bearing future dates of 2025, unrelated Import Permissions (IPs) and even EXPORT – not import – documents.
SS Power's Chief Financial Officer Ebadath Hossain Bhuiyan denied that any money has gone out of Bangladesh against these two LCs.
"These import payments were made through loans from our Chinese partner [SEPCO]," he told The Daily Star by phone on September 23, and advised us to talk to the Rupali Bank authorities.
Abu Naser Mohammad Masud, General Manager of Rupali Bank's Motijheel branch, confirmed that no loan money was involved in making the payments. "The total value of the two LCs was $914 million. Of this, payments worth $815.78 million were cleared from Bangladesh," he told this newspaper at his office on Tuesday.
$815 MILLION OUT, NOTHING IN
In 2016, now-deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly inaugurated the 1320MW power plant in the port city's Banshkhali. Beijing provided $2.6 billion (75%) of the fund in loan to build the plant, a joint venture by S Alam's SS Power and SEPCO. The plant started partial production in 2023, according to media reports.
The two LCs in question were opened under duty-free benefits to import vital machinery such as boiler structure, generator, transformer, steel structure and reheater systems for this project. But documents show the LCs were used instead as a cover to steal dollars from Bangladesh and stash them in some other countries.
The first LC (LC no. 0000026319150005) worth $121.95 million was opened on January 29, 2019, at Rupali Bank's local branch in Motijheel, Dhaka.
The first invoice (873670) claiming $371,873 against this LC was recorded on the BB server on May 27, 2019, and the last invoice (230261) claiming another $576,569 on February 3, 2023. In between, $120,498,430 more were transferred to the account of SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation, the Chinese partner of SS Power, documents from Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue show.
[ATTACH=full]8866[/ATTACH]
