An investor in the stock market has filed a petition with the High Court seeking a ban on leaving the country of Insurance Development & Regulatory Authority (IDRA) Chairman Dr M Mosharraf Hossain and his wife Jannatul Mowa till disposal of a rule is issued over the legality of IDRA chairman’s appointment.
Investor Abu Saleh Mohammad Amin Mehedi, who earlier also filed a writ petition in November last year seeking inquiry into the alleged irregularities of the IDRA chairman, filed the petition on Thursday citing a report of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), where the organisation said that suspicious transactions were found in the bank accounts of IDRA chairman Mosharraf Hossain.
In the petition a direction has also been sought from the High Court upon the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to submit a report with it within two weeks apprising as to exactly what action it has taken against Mosharraf Hossain in the light of the intelligent report submitted by the BFIU.
It also sought a direction upon the ACC to take necessary action to attach and freeze the bank accounts run by Mosharraf Hossain.
The petition has been placed with the High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo, said Sumaiya Ifrit Binte Ahmed, one of the counsels of Abu Saleh Mohammad Amin Mehedi.
Lawyer Sumaiya also said, “The BFIU have found irregularities about Tk 406.1 million deposited in IDRA chairman’s accounts. So we filed the petition and wanted to know what steps have been taken by the ACC against those irregularities. Besides, we also sought direction to freeze his accounts and for travel ban.”
In compliance report submitted in the High Court the BFIU said it has found suspicious transactions in the bank accounts of IDRA Chairman Mosharraf Hossain. The intelligence organisation has already forwarded intelligence report to the ACC to take necessary steps over the issue.
In the report the BFIU also stated that Dr M Mosharraf Hossain maintains 30 accounts in five banks in his names and in the names of his interested concern. Of them, about Tk 406.1 million was deposited from 2017 to March 2021 in 18 accounts.
Jannatul Mowa, wife of Dr Mosharraf, opened two FDRs in the name of ‘Muhammad Shahidullah & Company’ on December 7, 2020, depositing cash amounting to Tk 5.0 million, which could be linked to allegations of bribery by Mosharraf, said the BFIU report.
At the time of opening the two accounts, the condition of authorisation given by the ‘Muhammad Shahidullah & Company’ in favor of Jannatul Mawa was violated.
Separate five-member boards of trustees have been formed to conduct the gratuity fund and provident fund of three organisations owned by Dr Mosharraf and Jannatul Mawa. Mosharraf Hossain is the chairman and his wife Jannatul Mawa is the secretary of all the boards of trustees.
However, the amount that has been deposited (about Tk 329.1 million) in the three provident funds and three gratuity funds is not consistent with the transactions (about Tk 36.0 million) conducted in the accounts run by the institutions.
Following a writ petition, the then High Court bench of bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on November 9 in 2021 directed the ACC and BFIU to dispose of a representation that sought an inquiry into the allegations of corruption, money laundering, abuse of power, and breach of trust by Mosharraf Hossain.
The ACC and the BFIU had been asked to inform the court within 30 days over their steps taken in this regard. Complying with the court asking the BFIU submitted the report in the High Court last week.
Abu Saleh Mohammad Amin Mehedi, an investor of the stock market, filed the writ petition in November last year as public interest litigation.
Earlier on September 30, last year, the same High Court bench following another writ petition issued a ruling upon the respondents to explain in four weeks as to why the appointment of Dr M Mosharraf Hossain, FCA, as the chairman the IDRA should not be declared illegal, as it violated the Section 7(b) of the IDRA Act, 2010.
