Homeland Insurance directors allege corruption

Over a dozen directors of Homeland Life Insurance Company have brought allegations of money embezzlement and other corruption against the top officials of the company, including its Chief Executive Officer Biswajit Kumer Mondal.

After selling a land to settle customers claims, CEO Biswajit, Company Secretary Mohammad Ali Miah and Director Mohammad Julhas embezzled money, the complainants alleged in a written complaint to the chairman of Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA).

Besides, there is no trace of the company’s paid up capital worth crores of taka, according to the complaint, a copy of which has been obtained by The Business Post.

The complainants said Homeland Insurance Company sold its own 120 katha land in Bashundhara residential area to settle insurance claims of customers. However, allegedly, the sale money was not used to settle the claims. The board of directors was also not told which bank the money was deposited in.

A criminal case has also been filed against the company’s directors for non-payment of the customer’s money.

Meanwhile, according to the complaint, a huge sum of Tk 18 crore in paid capital of the company has disappeared without a trace.

The complainants claimed they are being kept in the dark in this matter.

They said officials concerned did not submit any evidence showing how much money has been taken out from the company for administrative and other expenses, and how much money has been paid as gain tax against the land sale.

Amid such circumstances, the complainants have requested IDRA to investigate the list of how much money has been paid to customers in which area and whether there have been any irregularities in the sale of the land.

The complaint further said the accused officials are also not informing the board of directors about the decrease in the life fund of the company, the amount of the fund, and how much of the fund is deposited in which banks.

The CEO and company secretary have also refrained from informing the board of directors of important financial information including bank statements, FDR, BGTB of the past five years.

Former chairman and current director Md Julhas is encouraging such actions of these two officials, claimed the complainants.

According to the written complaint, a huge sum of money has been embezzled as legal fees, clerical expenses, travel allowance, dearness allowance, and other expenses signed by the CEO, company secretary, and Legal Officer Zubair. No proper voucher has been submitted against these expenses.

It also said officials took massive commissions and incentives from the company by falsely exaggerating the scale of business during the period 2010-2021. In addition, a huge amount of company money has been wasted by officials making Hajj trips and travelling to foreign countries. These actions have led to a financial crisis in the company which is depriving policyholders of their due services.

Besides, these bogus policies of the company have resulted in the non-renewal of premiums, which is only adding to the organisation’s losses.

There are no register records in the company as to how many vehicles it has, which vehicles are allocated to whom, how much money is allocated and how much money is spent annually on the maintenance of each vehicle.

The complainants claimed that all important decisions at Homeland Life, including the recruitment and termination of employees, are being arbitrarily implemented by the CEO and the company secretary as per the wishes of Director Julhus, who is also the former chairman of the company.

Wishing not to be named, a director of Homeland Life Insurance told The Business Post that the credibility of many of the board members suffered due to the corruption of a few officials.

“In the interest of the customers and the company, we have made a written request to the IDRA chairman for a proper investigation into the various irregularities. We also requested an independent audit of the company. We hope that the irregularities will come out through proper investigation of the regulatory body,” said the official.

A senior IDRA official said, “We have received a written complaint against Homeland Life Insurance Company. An inquiry committee has been formed based on the complaint. If any irregularities are found, we will take action as per law,”.

The written complainants are Homeland Life Insurance Vice Chairman Jamal Miah, Independent Directors Showkatur Rahman and Istiak Hossain Chowdhury, Directors Md Abdur Razzak, Md Kamal Miah, MD Abdur Rob, Md Jamal Uddin, Md Abdul Hai, Abdul Ahad, Faizul Haque, Md Shamim Ahmed and Md Emdadul Islam.