The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has started an inquiry into the alleged corruption of former Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam and eight other officials of the commission.
According to ACC sources, by abusing their power, forgery and cheating, Shibli and the eight officials allegedly accumulated Tk 1,000 crore in assets at home and abroad, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
The eight officials are former BSEC commissioner Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, current executive directors Md Mahbubul Alam, Md Saifur Rahman and Mohammad Rezaul Karim, directors Sheikh Mahbub Ur Rahman and Mohammad Mahmoodul Hoque, Additional Director SK Md Lutful Kabir, and Joint Director (PS to Chairman) Md Rashidul Alam.
ACC sources said that the assets are registered in their names and the names of others.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, Shibli resigned as BSEC chairman on August 10 along with two commissioners Rumana Islam and Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed.
On August 20, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit froze the bank accounts of eight people, including Shibli, his son Zuhayer Sarar Islam and six others connected to the stock market.
The ACC has tasked its anti-money laundering wing to carry out the investigation, according to the investigation order.
According to a report by global investigative reporting platform Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Shibli allegedly received payments from a bank account linked to a multi-million-dollar fraud.
At the heart of the accusations was a convicted scammer, Javed A Matin, whom Shibli had met at university and had been friends with for two decades, the report said.
It added that throughout much of 2020, Javed helped launder the proceeds of a scheme that defrauded a Hong Kong-based supply chain and sourcing company, Ming Global Limited, out of more than $13 million.
Under the pretence of an investment, these funds were sent to two accounts held by a US company, Monarch Holdings, which then wired over $8,00,000 to Shibli's personal account and to the accounts of a Bangladeshi company he appeared to be behind.
Shibli faces a slew of allegations, including resorting to autocratic practices, facilitating market manipulators and approving companies with poor fundamentals to raise funds from general investors.
Javed and Abul Khair Hiru are among those who have become owners of huge wealth in the stock market in the last few years under the auspices of Shibli.
Shibli was appointed chairman of the BSEC on May 17, 2020. His tenure expired on May 16 this year.
In April this year, the Awami League government reappointed Shibli as the chairman of the BSEC for another four-year term.
The banking and insurance professor resigned last month citing personal reasons, just four months after his reappointment.
Previously, Shibli served as the dean of the Faculty of Business Studies at the University of Dhaka and the chairman of the Sadharan Bima Corporation.
He has spent more than two decades teaching finance, banking, and insurance and has played a key role in many businesses, chambers, and research projects related to his fields at home and abroad.
