Staff Reporter :
Southeast Bank’s former chairman Alamgir Kabir and his son, the bank’s former director Raihan Kabir, have made plan to flee abroad at any time, sources said.
A Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) inspection revealed information that they laundered nearly Tk 200 crore overseas, which has reportedly made them desperate to leave the country.
According to sources from BFIU, Southeast Bank, and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), they may try to escape to Singapore.
Recently, Alamgir Kabir and Raihan Kabir attempted to flee abroad through Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport, but were unsuccessful. Several cases, including money laundering, are in process against them.
Earlier, on August 4, the court issued a travel ban on Alamgir Kabir and his son Raihan Kabir. They were barred from leaving the country due to allegations of abuse of power, nepotism, concealing foreign citizenship, money laundering, irregularities, and embezzlement of hundreds of crores of taka from the bank.
Despite being summoned multiple times by the ACC for questioning, they did not appear. Currently, the mobile phones used by Alamgir Kabir and his son Raihan Kabir are often found switched off.
A BFIU inspection found allegations that Raihan Kabir laundered Tk 194 crore from Bangladesh. The money was transferred abroad through letters of credit (LCs) opened in the name of Deshbandhu Group. In addition to money laundering, evidence was also found of Raihan Kabir misappropriating Tk 13 crore by waiving excess interest on his father-in-law’s company loan, and manipulating share prices-purchasing Tk 10 shares at Tk 25.
In 2012, Raihan Kabir and his wife Nusrat Nahar established R & N Holdings Pte Ltd in Singapore. The company’s paid-up capital is 1.4 million Singapore dollars, which was not legally transferred from Bangladesh. Yet, the bank opened massive LCs in favor of this company. Of these, 17 LCs involving USD 15,911,584 have been identified by BFIU as laundered funds.
Regarding their attempt to flee the country, an immigration officer at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport said:
“Alamgir Kabir and Raihan Kabir are under a court-issued travel ban. There are strict directives from the Special Superintendent of Police (Immigration Operations) of the Special Branch (SB) to ensure that they cannot leave the country. Under no circumstances will they be allowed to depart.”
