Bashundhara Crew, one amongst Bangladesh’s largest conglomerates, has sought the enhance of the meantime authorities to safeguard its operations, the roles of thousands of employees, and its recognition every domestically and internationally, following what it claims to be a smear advertising and marketing and marketing campaign by sure instruct companies.
In a letter addressed to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on 2 October, Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Chairman of Bashundhara Crew, expressed considerations over what he described as defamatory statements and propaganda being circulated by authorities our bodies within the media, every at residence and foreign.
The conglomerate, which employs over 80,000 of us, pointed to a most as much as the moment press unlock by the Prison Investigation Division (CID) of the police as an illustration. On 5 September 2024, the CID issued an announcement, broadly reported within the media, accusing the corporate, its chairman, and its managing director of diversified crimes, along with land grabbing, money laundering, and smuggling – all without, in accordance to Bashundhara, any correct foundation.
The CID’s unlock alleged that Bashundhara had illegally seized 1,016 acres of land, along with 800 acres of authorities land and 216 acres of the Bhawal Raj Estate. It extra claimed that various the corporate’s residential tasks lacked correct approval, with handiest a little part authorised by the metropolis style authority, Rajuk.
In response, Bashundhara argued that the authority to resolve the veracity of such severe bills lies with the courts, and to this level, no ruling has been made in opposition to the team of workers on the wretchedness of land grabbing. The corporate furthermore brushed off the allegations of financial misconduct, along with accusations of syphoning funds foreign thru fraudulent loans, as speculative and untrue.
Bashundhara maintains that such severe claims must be in response to thorough investigations and concrete proof. It extra criticised the media for irresponsibly disseminating the allegations without correct verification, accusing every the CID and data retail outlets of undermining journalistic requirements.
“No allegations of wrongdoing luxuriate in ever been raised by any banks or financial institutions, along with the central regulatory financial institution. On the opposite, Bashundhara Crew has the least bit times maintained a flawless fable of mortgage repayments without any occasion of default over its 40 years of history. Moreover, the valuation of the lands mortgaged to banks as collateral in opposition to its loans has multiplied manifold through the years, preserving the banks secured the least bit times.”
Bashundhara Crew has furthermore refuted allegations of commerce-basically basically basically based money laundering connected to bitumen imports, declaring that it has never imported the cloth. Also, the team of workers brushed off what it described as vague and fabricated accusations of gold smuggling and tax avoidance, claiming these were made without any licensed foundation or credible proof. Per Bashundhara, these accusations—disseminated by the CID and amplified by the media thru what it termed “yellow journalism”—luxuriate in been publicised even prior to a correct investigation.
“The dissemination, e-newsletter, and circulation of these untrue vague allegations, made without any investigation whatsoever or without following due route of of regulations, luxuriate in severely tarnished and damaged the Crew’s recognition and precipitated major damage to its commerce operations as effectively as adversely affected thousands of employees and their relatives whose livelihood are straight associated with Bashundhara Crew,” reads the letter.
“Therefore, we inquire your Excellency (Chief Adviser) to allege the authorities concerned to withdraw and rob away from CID’s web region the stated press unlock and to electrify the considered necessary for mitigating and combating the unfold of disparaging and defamatory misinformation which would be being purposeful disseminated amongst the final public at mountainous with the nation and foreign,” stated Ahmed Akbar Sobhan.
