Tk 353cr anomalies found at Sonali Life Insurance

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has discovered anomalies worth Tk 353 crore at Sonali Life Insurance Company, accusing its former chairman Mostafa Golam Quddus and his family members of irregularities, fraud, and money laundering.

The family, however, blames Quddus's former son-in-law Mir Rashed Bin Aman, who had also worked as the company's chief executive officer (CEO), for the "misappropriation" of Tk 192 crore funds.

A BFIU team submitted a report on September 22, detailing the evidence of irregularities at Sonali Life. The agency sent it to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police and the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) for further steps.

The alleged irregularities reported by BFIU include the "sale" of a mortgaged building owned by Quddus to Sonali Life for over Tk 139 crore without the approval of the board of directors and IDRA.

Payments were made for the purchase of luxurious cars, flats, birthday and marriage anniversary gifts, overseas treatment costs and other items for the family members' personal use in clear violation of rules related to managing the funds of a public limited company, the anti-money laundering agency said.

The findings have come at a time when Sonali Life needs to start repayment significantly as many of the decade-old company's early life insurances are set to mature. Sonali Life has 204 branches with 26,693 agents across the country.

Since the inception of Sonali Life in 2013, a total of Tk 169.09 crore has been withdrawn in cash from six of its accounts with five banks until December 2023.

Withdrawing excessive amounts of cash from a public limited company's bank account is risky, indicating embezzlement, according to the BFIU report.

On September 30, BFIU directed banks to freeze the accounts of Quddus, and seven of his family members, along with 19 other individuals and three organisations linked to the insurance company and Rashed.

Besides Quddus, the extended family had his wife Fazlutun Nessa, eldest daughter Fauzia Quamrun Tania, youngest daughter Tasnia Kamrun Anika, Anika's husband Sheikh Mohammad Danial, Quddus's son Mostafa Kamrus Sobhan, and Sobhan's wife Shafia Sobhan Chowdhury as directors on the 20-member board.

The extended family controlled the board with 44.38 percent of the company's total shares.

The BFIU report noted that Quddus, his wife, their three children, a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law violated the Insurance Act by owning 24.34 percent of Sonali Life's shares together when no individual or family group is allowed to own more than 10 percent of shares.

THE BUILDING

As per the BFIU document, Quddus owns the building, in which Sonali Life is headquartered. The building was mortgaged to Jamuna Bank for a Tk 35.5 crore loan.

However, no board meeting agenda included the purchase of the building, and no approval was given by the board or by IDRA.

The Tk 139.10 crore was paid for the building to benefit Quddus's companies, including Dragon Sweaters, CD Acrylic, and Imperial Sweaters, the BFIU report said.

Quddus, during a conversation with BFIU officials, claimed he received the funds as rent, according to the report.

But the company had documents to back the payment of only Tk 18.17 crore as rent from 2015 to 2023, the report said. "Because of a lack of documents, it could not be confirmed how much he took as office rent."

The family in a statement claimed Tk 159 crore attributed to Quddus and his relatives was received by him as rent, repayment of loans given at the inception of the company, and for the purchase of the ERP software from another concern of Quddus.

It claimed the insurance company still owes Quddus Tk 12 crore as of December 31, 2023. 

The family also claimed that Rashed's failure to maintain proper records led to the inconsistencies surrounding the "rent". 

MONEY LAUNDERED?

The report said a total of Tk 6.46 crore was withdrawn from the insurance company and sent abroad via Hundi, an illegal channel of cross-border money transfer, through Crown Money Changer Co Ltd.

The funds were paid to purchase British pounds, send money to London, for shopping in London, for Dubai tour, and payments to Quddus's granddaughter.

Crown Money Changer Co denied having any transactions with Sonali Life and no documents were found on the transactions, BFIU said in the report.

But a receipt on a visiting card of Crown's Manager Tariqul Islam, and a conversation with Rashed's chauffeur revealed $100,000 was paid to the money changer in cash, and another Tk 74.5 lakh, the report said.      

Also, Tk 37.64 crore was paid to Galaxy Holidays Ltd for foreign tours, seminars, Umrah trips, and Cricket World Cup tickets in Australia. These funds were likely laundered abroad by Rashed, according to the BFIU report.

EX-SON-IN-LAW RASHED

Former acting CEO Mir Rashed Bin Aman was once married to Fauzia, the eldest daughter of Quddus.

Rashed received financial benefits in various ways. He booked a flat in Gulshan, valued at Tk 18.39 crore, under his and Fauzia's names. The BFIU found evidence to believe that the payments for the flat were made by Sonali Life via its agents and pay orders.

The family statement said it would not share details about the purchase of the Gulshan flat because the transactions were under legal scrutiny.

Sonali Life appointed Rashed as deputy managing director and chief financial officer in 2013 by showing that he had worked at Meghna Life Insurance from 2005 to 2013.

Meghna confirmed to BFIU that Rashed had never been their employee.   

Although family members of a director are strictly barred from holding the post of CEO in an insurance company, Sonali Life promoted him to acting chief executive in 2020 and CEO in 2021.  

Sonali Life's board of directors cannot evade the responsibility for Rashed's misdeeds since it appointed him by violating the rules, BFIU said. 

Rashed's brother Mir Khaled Bin Aman was working as an agent of Sonali Life and he was supposed to be given a commission of Tk 39.97 lakh, but got a total of Tk 2.40 crore.

His aunt Monowara Begum was paid Tk 4.72 crore from Sonali Life as salary and commission despite having no official link to the insurance company, the report said.

Quddus and his family said in the statement that Rashed's aunt Monowara, his peon, and chauffeur have submitted affidavits stating that they were neither aware nor gave consent to open bank accounts or BO accounts used by Rashed to embezzle funds.

Sonali Life also paid Tk 1.47 crore for the purchase of a Mercedes Benz E 200 Coupe in 2019, Tk 2.2 crore for a Mercedes Benz GLE 53 AMG in 2020, and Tk 3.5 crore a brand new Porsche Taycan Turbo-S in 2021 – all for Rashed, BFIU found in an inspection.   

Quddus and his family claimed that they were the "victims of a targeted campaign of manipulation" by Rashed. They also said Quddus, who became a director of the company in 2021 and chairman in 2023, took firm steps to mitigate the losses caused by Rashed before IDRA intervened and suspended the board. 

The Daily Star could not reach Rashed for comments despite several attempts.

"We have learnt about the BFIU report on Sonali Life, but it has not yet reached our Financial Crimes Unit," Azad Rahman, an additional superintendent of police at CID's media wing, told The Daily Star on October 1.

The Daily Star also tried to contact an ACC spokesperson for comment, but there was no response.

IDRA spokesman Jahangir Alam told The Daily Star yesterday that the authority's current Chairman M Aslam Alam is undergoing treatment. A decision will be taken after the matter is presented at the meeting of the authorities upon Aslam's return, Jahangir said.