Home ›› 04 Sep 2022 ›› Sport
Monarch Holdings, a company where cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is the chairman, have expressed their interest to buy a franchise in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League.
The company is aiming to form a franchise under the name of Padma Division and looking forward to organising a team with Shakib at the helm, said chief patron Abul Khayer Hero.
Bangladesh Cricket Board have already associated itself with several shady companies like Evaly, and Alesha Holding in the past few years, and Monarch could be another name on the list as they were fined heavy amounts for stock market manipulation.
Abul Khayer, a deputy registrar at the Department of Cooperatives, is the key person behind Monarch Holdings but due to his bindings as a government official, he made his wife Kazi Sadia Hasan its Managing Director.
He told The Business Post that his name will not be found in any document. “I don’t have anything in my name. Everything I’m doing is under the names of my family members”, said Khayer on Saturday.
Bangladesh Security and Exchange Commission fined Mrs Kazi Sadia Hasan and Associates Tk 95 lakh for violating the Securities and Exchange Commission Act 1969 by manipulating the trade of Dhaka Insurance Limited.
In a letter issued by BSEC on June 20, the commission fined Mrs Kazi Sadia Hasan and Associates Tk 95 lakh and asked the company to deposit the penalty within 30 days.
Mrs Kazi Sadia Hasan and Associates was also fined Tk 42 lakhs by BSEC on the same date for manipulating the trade of the shares of Green Delta Insurance Limited.
On July 6, the regulator fined Abul Khayer, widely known as ‘Hero’ in the stock market, and his family members Tk 5.25 crore for manipulating shares of NRBC Bank and Fortune Shoes nearly one year ago.
The NRBC Bank’s shares were jacked up by 172 per cent and Fortune Shoes by 94.67 per cent during the period from May to June of 2021, a Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) probe report revealed.
Khayer appeared as a financial wizard in the capital market and with his tricky moves, he lured many small investors who lost all their fortune.
Now he is gradually spreading his wings into the sports arena by buying a BPL team where he will team up with Shakib.
Previously Monarch appeared as a sponsor for the Afghanistan team in their Bangladesh tour, recently they also signed a two-year endorsement deal with golfer Siddikur Rahman.
Their next move is to aim for a BPL franchise for the next three years, according to BCB’s guideline, a successful EOI participant for BPL T20’s Franchise Ownership Rights shall be under obligation to make payment of Franchise Fee an amount of net Tk 1.5 crore (Per Edition/Season) as well as an amount of net TK 8.5 crore (Per Edition/Season) as a Minimum Payment Guarantee against player’s payment (both local & overseas players.
Khayer told The Business Post that he and Shakib have big plans.
“We have submitted our application for a team under the name Monarch Padma. Previously I was associated with the Fortune Barishal team as a co-sponsor but this time I and Shakib are going together for a new team, Monarch Padma. Shakib will play for our team”, he said on Saturday.
Khayer also said that with Shakib at the helm, they can bag some big names despite the schedule clash of BPL with ILT20 and SAT20,
“In Emirates T20 League, there will be 54 foreign cricketers in six teams as each team can have nine, in SA T20 there could be 30 to 40 more. But there are above 200 cricketers who play franchise leagues around the world. Not all of them get teams”, he said.
“As Shakib is there, we will get players”, added Khayer.
Regarding his association with a BPL team despite being a government official, Khayer explained, “In sports, social or cultural involvements like club etc, it is allowed. The Inspector General of Police is also chief patron of Mohammedan Sporting Club, it is permitted”, Khayer told The Business Post.
