Prof. Shibli Rubaiyat Ul Islam
Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has been spreading misinformation about Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Prof. Shibli Rubaiyat Ul Islam in a recently published report on its website.
In the report, it was published that the BSEC chairman received the money in his bank account through illegal means.
However, in a recent development, it was found that the money the BSEC chairman received in his account was legal.
It was found that in 2020, 2 lakhs 78 thousand US dollars were sent to the BSEC chairman from the bank account of a US-based company named Monarch Holdings Inc. The company sent this money to his bank several times according to the contract for renting two floors in a building owned by Professor Shibli Rubaiyat.
According to the agreement, this money came to Bangladesh in several stages, and the chairman of BSEC also paid the tax on this money.
Although he was not the chairman of BSEC at the time of the agreement, It was found there was a conflict between the partners in the company which the official was unaware of.
After that, when the matter came to his attention, he approached the court to settle it through the judicial process.
However, it is known from related sources that an organisation called the OCCRP is questioning this money coming through the legal banking channel.
A company named Ming Global claimed the money to be theirs. In view of this, the money coming from abroad was submitted to the court by the head of the capital market regulatory agency. Currently, the matter is pending in court.
When asked about this, BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubaiyat Ul Islam said, “OCCRP has published news that I received money from a bank account linked to a million-dollar fraud, which is completely baseless and fabricated.”
“Basically, $2,77,924 has been remitted to my personal bank for advance rent, a security deposit, and advance construction costs under a valid lease agreement. I got this money using a legitimate source.”
He continued, "I got this money using a legitimate channel. At the same time, I paid tax on this amount, which is in my tax file.”
“When one of the partners of the company told me that there was a conflict between them and they demanded this money, I told them that I did not know you. Then I filed a case with the court to resolve this issue. The matter is still pending.”
“As soon as I got the news, I took legal action. If I had bad intentions, would I have brought this money home? And brought my valid money through the banking channel. I didn’t do anything wrong. If I was using hundi as a means, then that could have been an issue. If someone wants to do something illegal, does anyone bring money into the country, and that too through legal channels?” he questioned.
He further said some unscrupulous groups are deliberately spreading this misinformation to defame him. As the head of the capital market regulator, many decisions have to be made to protect investors. Many people are disappointed too.
“As a result, these people are fueling the propaganda against me. At the same time, measures have to be taken against many evil circles to ensure good governance in the capital market.”
Due to various irregularities, the current commission has restructured the boards of many companies, many of which are quite powerful. These tasks were not easy at all. Also, many companies that have not paid dividends to investors for long were put under OTC. They were not running their business properly by way of cheating the investors, he observed.
“I have taken strict action against them. As a result, as the head of BSEC, I have become an enemy in the eyes of those unscrupulous companies.”
It is known that an organisation called OCCRP has raised questions about this money coming through the banking channel. Behind this organisation is said to be the controversial figure Zulqarnain Sayer Khan, alias Sami.
The BSEC chairman alleged that he had been demanding huge sums of money from OCCRP. Zulkarnain Sayer and the Organised Crime and Corruption Project published the report intentionally with the aim of destabilizing the country’s stock market as they did not receive any money.
Incidentally, cybercriminals are becoming active again ahead of the upcoming National Parliament elections. Several individuals and social media-based organisations are spreading rumors against important individuals and organisations of the government in the name of alleged journalism from abroad.
Those involved in this work have been demanding money from various organisations and individuals for a long time. When they don’t get the demanded money they start propaganda. None starting from the country’s president and prime minister to the BSEC was spared from this propaganda.
“Extortion allegations against Zulkarnain of OCCRP and Najmus Sakib of YouTube-based Nagorik TV are not new. Najmus Sakib and Tito Rahman have been accused of blackmailing Bashundhara Group Managing Director (MD) Sayem Sobhan Anveer after the death of Nusrat Jahan Munia. A phone call to Bashundhara MD claiming a Tk 5 crore contribution was leaked on social media. After that, the extortion issue between Najmus Sakib and Tito Rahman came to light.
Also, recently, a person named Aarav Khan came to the discussion after opening a jewelry shop in Dubai. After that, several stories about Arav Khan’s misdeeds were published in the country’s media. At that time, Aarav Khan accused Zulqarnain Sayer of extortion.
TDM/SNE
