The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against Bengal Group Chairman Morshed Alam, his son, and brother, accusing them of embezzling crores of taka in a land scam involving National Life Insurance Company Ltd.
The case, filed at the ACC’s Integrated District Office Dhaka-1, named Morshed Alam, also chairman of National Life Insurance, Morshed’s son Saiful Alam, Managing Director of Bengal Concept & Holdings Ltd, and Morshed’s brother Md Jashim Uddin, Chairman of Bengal Commercial Bank.
According to the ACC, the trio colluded to misappropriate funds by orchestrating a land purchase from a company owned by themselves at a highly inflated price, thereby breaching fiduciary duties and abusing their positions of authority within the organisations involved.
ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhtarul Islam told a press conference that the case was filed under sections 409, 420, 467, 471, and 109 of the Penal Code. The complaint was submitted by Shekh Golam Moula, deputy director of the ACC’s Dhaka-1 office.
Investigators allege that the land — approximately 6,000 square feet — was bought for Tk 66.5 crore, though the actual market value was just Tk 37.89 crore.
The inflated valuation was made possible through the use of three allegedly forged certificates submitted to the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA). The certificates claimed land prices as high as Tk 11,700 per square foot, with forged endorsements from officials of Begumganj Sub-Registry Office, assistant engineer of Chowmuhani Municipality, and through the executive engineer of the Public Works Department in Noakhali.
To gain regulatory approval, the accused also falsely declared to IDRA that there were no relationship between National Life Insurance and the land-selling entity, Bengal Concept & Holdings Ltd.
The transaction was executed via a payee cheque from NCC Bank’s Karwan Bazar branch on January 3, 2016. Of the total payment, the ACC estimates that Tk 28.6 crore was siphoned off through overvaluation.