ACC sues Hasina, Rehana over Tk276cr CSR fund collection from 41 banks

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against three people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, over the collection of Tk276.345 crore from the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds of 41 scheduled banks.

The funds were allegedly collected in the name of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust.

The other accused is former Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) president and former Exim Bank chairman Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder.

ACC Secretary Md Saidur Rahman Khan said the case was filed at the ACC's Combined District Office in Dhaka-1 yesterday. ACC Assistant Director (Special Inquiry and Investigation-1) Md Ismail Hossain lodged the case.

According to the case documents, Hasina served as president and Rehana as vice-president of the trust.

The ACC said it reviewed records from 41 banks and found that Nazrul, while serving as BAB president, raised the issue of channelling banks' CSR funds to the trust under "miscellaneous" expenses during executive committee meetings.

The commission alleged that the issue was raised even though it was not included in the formal meeting agendas.

Following decisions taken at various committee meetings, letters were subsequently sent to banks, resulting in the collection of Tk276.345 crore from the CSR funds of 41 banks, according to the ACC.

The commission said neither guideline contains any provision allowing CSR funds to be allocated to the trust in question.

The ACC further said its officials conducted a physical inspection of the trust's registered address but found no evidence of office activities there.

According to the commission, the organisation also does not have approval from the Department of Social Services or the NGO Affairs Bureau.

The ACC alleged that the accused acted in collusion, abused their positions and committed criminal breach of trust in collecting the funds, causing financial loss to the state.