Money taken from businesses after 9/11
SC asks govt to return Tk 615cr
STAFF REPORTER
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday dismissed separate appeals filed by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) against the High Court verdicts that had directed the government to return around Tk 615 crore, which was realised from several companies during the army-backed caretaker government rule in 2007-8. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict after dismissing 11 appeals filed by Bangladesh Bank challenging the High Court judgment.
Barristers Rokanuddin Mahmud, Shafique Ahmed, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Ahsanul Karim, Khairul Alam and MA Hannan, among others, argued for the business establishments while Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam stood for Bangladesh Bank and Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.
After the verdict, M Amir-Ul Islam, counsel for the BB, told reporters that the central bank may file a review petition after getting the full copy of the verdict. Later, Advocate Ahsanul Karim, one of the counsels for the companies, told reporters that the process of returning money to the companies would be cleared after getting the full copy of the verdict.
In response to the petitions, the HC had, from August 24, 2010 till 2015, on separate dates asked the government to return about Tk. 615 crore to 11 companies, as the amount was collected from these companies illegally, the court observed. The DGFI officials had
collected Tk 60 crore from 7 companies of S Alam group S Alam Steels Ltd, S Alam Cold Rolled Steel Ltd, S Alam Brand Ltd, S Alam Vegetable Oil Ltd, Galco Steels Ltd, Chemon Ispat Ltd and S Alam Super Edible Oil Ltd while they also collected Tk 237 crore from Consolidated Tea and Land (Bangladesh) Ltd and Boraoora (Sylhet) Tea Company, Tk 52 crore from Meghna Cement Ltd, Tk 15 crore from Bashundhara Paper Mills Ltd and East West Property Ltd, Tk 90 lakh from Unique Eastern Property Ltd, Tk 70 lakh from Unique Ceramics Industries (Pvt) Ltd, Tk 17.55 crore from Unique Hotel and Resort Ltd, Tk 65 lakh from Unique Vocational Training Centre, Tk 7.1 crore from Borak Real Estate (Pvt) Ltd, Tk 35 crore from Eastern Housing Ltd, and TK 189 crore from East West Property Development (Pvt) Ltd.
Apart from these, the DGFI officials also collected about 600 crore from other companies, according to Bangladesh Bank sources. Barrister Khairul Alam, another counsel for companies, told reporters that according to the central bank, over Tk 1200 crore had been taken from some businessmen during the emergency rule in 2007-08.
Officials of an intelligence agency collected Tk 1,232 crore from nearly 40 businessmen and business houses and deposited the money to Bangladesh Bank through over 200 pay orders, said Bangladesh Bank sources.
Regarding the matter, counsel Ahsanul Karim said that it is confusing whether the other companies from whom the government had realised the money during the emergency period can get their money back as the writ petitions, if they file, may not be acceptable due to a long delay since the incident.
The BB filed the appeals with the Supreme Court after the Appellate Division of the apex court allowed it to file the appeal on 2 August 2015. After a final hearing on the appeals, the apex court yesterday dismissed the BB appeals that paved the way for the companies to get back the money.
