468 Crore Taka Stolen in Chartered Flights

A syndicate within Biman Bangladesh Airlines has embezzled nearly 468 crore taka by operating chartered flights on the Dhaka-Guangzhou-Dhaka route. The group looted the money by operating 174 round-trip flights. From the fare of each flight alone, nearly 3 crore taka was siphoned off. Additionally, there is no trace of 63 crore taka that should have been collected as cancellation penalties according to the contract. Another 6.5 crore taka in incentives was also embezzled. According to regulations, this money should have been deposited into Biman's funds. Those involved in this massive irregularity are officials at various levels of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Information about this financial scandal was obtained from reliable sources associated with the organization.

It is known that this massive corruption was uncovered in an internal investigation conducted by Biman last May. However, even though concrete evidence was found, the matter was suppressed due to the intervention of influential individuals. Not only that, Md. Mizanur Rashid, the acting director of Biman's Administration and Human Resources Division and General Manager (GM), who was identified as the 'kingpin' of the syndicate involved in this corruption, was given a promotion instead of punishment. When his promotion to Executive Director on May 18 caused a huge uproar, it was canceled within a few hours. The next day, he was temporarily suspended from his job.

Those concerned said that the corruption and fraud of Mizanur Rashid could not be suppressed forever. Eventually, when the matter came to the attention of top government officials, the situation changed rapidly. Biman authorities have decided to form a high-powered investigation committee to re-examine the corruption of Mizanur Rashid and his associates. Sources indicate that the committee will start its work soon. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is also investigating the allegations of corruption against him.

Regarding the allegations of involvement in corruption, Mizanur Rashid's mobile phone number was called multiple times from Wednesday afternoon to evening, but he did not answer. A text message was also sent via WhatsApp to the same number requesting time to talk, but there was no response. Finally, specific questions were sent to him on WhatsApp at 7:00 PM seeking his statement, but until the writing of this report at 9:00 PM, he had not provided any response.

Despite various attempts to get a statement on this matter, it was not possible to speak with Biman Bangladesh Airlines' Managing Director (MD) and CEO, Kaiser Sohail Ahmed. To obtain his statement, when contacted yesterday afternoon, Biman's General Manager (GM) of Public Relations Department, Bosra Islam, asked the reporter to send written questions. Questions were sent via WhatsApp to her mobile number at 4:58 PM, but no response was received until 9:00 PM.

According to Biman's internal investigation report, due to disruptions in regular flight operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Biman's revenue generation had collapsed. In an effort to survive, the organization contracted to operate non-scheduled chartered cargo flights on various routes in the 2020-21 fiscal year. Through this, flights were operated with cargo companies from different countries by determining specific fees, security deposits, cancellation penalties, handling charges, and other fees. A department called the 'Chartered Cell' was formed to store all revenue-related information for this sector.

According to the report, under the contract, Biman Bangladesh operated 174 round-trip chartered flights on the Dhaka-Guangzhou route to China. Per the agreement between Biman and the Chinese GSA company Super Power Limited (SPL), the fare per flight was set at 300,000 US dollars (approximately 3 crore 60 lakh taka at the then exchange rate of 120 taka per dollar). However, only 76,000 dollars (91 lakh 20 thousand taka in Bangladeshi currency) was deposited into Biman's fund as fare per flight. Accordingly, 2 crore 68 lakh 80 thousand taka was embezzled from each flight's fare. From 174 flights, a total of 467 crore 71 lakh 20 thousand taka was siphoned off. To embezzle this massive amount, the circle used a fake copy of the contract with SPL. While the original contract stated a fare of 300,000 dollars per flight, the forged contract showed the fare as 76,000 dollars. They deposited this amount into Biman's bank account. The rest went into the syndicate's pockets.

Biman's internal investigation revealed that 1.31 million US dollars were deposited into the organization's London bank account and Bangkok bank account from Guangzhou. This was shown as Biman's revenue. However, according to the contract, 5.22 million dollars should have been deposited into the bank as fare.

Additionally, although scheduled, Super Power Limited canceled 152 flights. According to the contract terms, 528,200 US dollars (63 crore 38 lakh 40 thousand taka in Bangladeshi currency) should have been deposited into Biman's account as penalties for those canceled flights. But not a single taka was deposited under this head. On the other hand, according to the contract, Biman was supposed to receive 6 crore 50 lakh taka as incentives from the Chinese government for operating these chartered flights. There is also no trace of that money. According to revenue department information, no accounts or documents related to this were found from Biman's revenue division or the Guangzhou station. However, Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the contract between Biman and SPL states that all information and accounts held by the GSA must be provided to Biman's authorized officer. But this clause of the contract was violated.

Meanwhile, despite all these misdeeds, Mizanur Rashid was promoted to the position of Executive Director of Biman on May 18. Following a storm of criticism over this, the promotion order was canceled the same day. The next day, he was temporarily suspended from his job. Sources say that the process of forming an investigation committee to probe his corruption is in the final stages. They believe that if the new investigation committee conducts an in-depth probe, sensational information about various corrupt practices, including ticket sale forgery, embezzlement of massive amounts from various sectors, money laundering, and human trafficking to Canada, will come to light.

On the other hand, ACC sources said that a two-member team of the ACC has been investigating Mizanur Rashid's corruption for a long time. The team is led by the organization's Deputy Director, Md. Jahangir Alam. On February 10, he sent a letter to Biman requesting the investigation committee's report and other data against Biman's General Manager (Internal Audit) Abdur Rahman Faruqui, General Manager (IT) Md. Anwarul Haque, and Manager (Internal Audit) Md. Nazmul Karim, who are linked to the allegations.
When asked, AKM Akhtarul Islam, Deputy Director (Public Relations) of the ACC, told Agamir Somoy, "An investigation into corruption against Mohammad Mizanur Rashid and related individuals is ongoing. The process of collecting information is underway. It is not possible to say anything more on this matter until the investigation is concluded."