The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 14 people for allegedly embezzling Tk 96.9 lakh from Bangladesh Railway by preparing and using forged bills.
The case was filed today at the ACC’s Integrated District Office-1 in Chattogram. The accused include officials and employees of Bangladesh Railway, Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) and Shimanto Bank.
Riaz Uddin, deputy director of the ACC’s Integrated District Office-1 in Chattogram, told The Daily Star, “The accused, acting in collusion and abusing their power, embezzled public money through forged documents and bills. To carry out the fraud, officials of the city corporation, railway and bank used a worker’s name, national identity card (NID) details and a fake address.”
The ACC investigation found that money was withdrawn using forged bills issued in the name of an entity called The Cosmopolitan Corporation. The commission also found evidence of a fake trade licence and a bank account opened using the identity of Kohinur Akter, the purported owner of the business.
According to the case statement, the actual Kohinur Akter is a labourer. The ACC found that she did not have any bank account in her own name. Despite discrepancies between the photograph and signature in the bank’s submitted documents and those on her NID, bank officials allegedly opened the account without proper verification.
An additional bill worth Tk 96.9 lakh was paid in the name of The Cosmopolitan Corporation on December 28, 2023, alongside four other bills. However, a review of the relevant registers and documents found no valid records to support the payment.
The ACC alleged that the identities and iBAS++ system user credentials of several railway officials and employees were used to approve and process the forged bill.