Case filed against Joy, Putul, 6 others for embezzlement

Anti-Corruption Commission has filed a case against eight persons including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and daughter Saima Wazed Putul for embezzling money in the name of a research institute.

Mubashira Atiya Toma, assistant director of the ACC, filed the case at the commission's Dhaka-1 office on Wednesday.

The complaint states that Joy received Tk45.35 crore in the name of donations from 23 companies by exerting pressure to run the research institute Center for Research and Information (CRI).

Joy was the chairman and trustee of CRI, while Putul was the vice chairman and trustee. The other accused in the case are--Radwan Mujib Siddique, the trustee of CRI and son of Sheikh Hasina's younger sister Sheikh Rehana, former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, the trustee of the institution and former state minister Nasrul Hamid (Bipu), executive director Shabbir Bin Shams, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and member of the NBR's Tax Appellate Division Rawshan Ara Akhter.

The statement of the case further states that suspicious transactions worth Tk 439.67 crore were made in the name of this institution in 25 bank accounts. The government has been damaged by evading income tax of Tk36.52 lakh in violation of the Income Tax Act.

It is alleged that the accused, in collusion with each other, have issued a notification regarding income tax exemption for the money received in favor of a so-called organization called CRI for public welfare by abusing the power of the Income Tax Act. They have committed criminal misconduct and criminal breach of trust by unfairly benefiting each other. Despite not doing public welfare work and not being an organization registered with the Department of Social Services, they have issued SROs, given and received tax benefits, illegally applied pressure and received donations, and have received Tk45.35 crore from 23 companies in the account of CRI.

It is further alleged that a total of Tk100.31 crore was illegally earned from the fiscal year 2013-14 to the fiscal year 2023-24. At that time, excluding the allowable expenses of Tk29.50 crore, the CRI account should have been credited with Tk70.80 crore. However, the current balance is Tk55.11 crore. That is, Tk15.68crore has been embezzled from that income.

The statement further states that a total of Tk439.67 crore has been made, including deposits of Tk247.85crore in 25 bank accounts and withdrawals of Tk191.21 crore. The government has been damaged by not paying income tax of Tk36.52 lakh in violation of Part-B of Schedule 6 of the Income Tax Ordinance-1984. The accused have committed punishable crimes by transferring, converting and transferring and embezzling money to various persons.