Photo-collected.
Special Correspondent //

National Tea Company Secretary Mullah Ghulam Muhammad has become the owner of billions of rupees through his power and influence over the years. Company secretary Mullah Ghulam Muhammad was one of the people with whose help the corruption of NTC was done. Keramat Ali was also the finance officer of the company.

Acting MD Syed Mahmud Hasan joined the syndicate at the beginning of 2024. They still remain hidden from the public eye. NTC Chairman Sheikh Kabir Hossain is the uncle of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Molla Ghulam Muhammad, Keramat Ali and Shahadat Hossain did all the work including purchase, recruitment, transfer, promotion of the company. Mullah Ghulam Muhammad flourished by acquiring wealth through corruption, knowingly and sometimes unknowingly by the chairman.

Corruption in the National Tea Company and embezzlement of CICT and chemical goods worth crores of rupees.

Although the National Tea Company purchased 40 lakhs of CI seats in the financial year 2019-2020, they were not supplied to any garden. There is no mention of this in the audit report for which auditor Mullah Ghulam Muhammad is responsible.

It is alleged that in exchange of a large amount of money, he took the garden registrar outside Dhaka and hid it. Apart from this, there is no information about this in the audit report despite the stock of chemical goods worth Tk 48 lakh 73 thousand 212 in Patrakhola central warehouse. Later, when Mullah Ghulam Muhammad was ordered to conduct a special audit investigation, he raised allegations of embezzlement of chemicals. He put the blame on Syed Mahmud Hasan, DGM in charge of the godown and submitted a report holding him guilty. Despite this incident of corruption, the authorities appointed Syed Mahmud Hasan as acting MD, further questioning the embezzlement of chemicals worth half a crore by the company. There has been a demand for investigation against this internal corruption and mismanagement of the company. Not only that, the owner Mullah Ghulam Muhammad is responsible for selling good quality tea produced in the garden at one dollar per kg and Tk 25.50 per kg of raw tea leaves. Although many people comment that it is a suicidal decision for the company. The buyer Salman Talib is running away after embezzling Tk 42 lakh.

Meanwhile, on November 8, 1998, the verdict in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case was announced by the secretary’s brother-in-law, then Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Kazi Ghulam Rasul. Mullah Ghulam Muhammad was his brother-in-law, and using this relationship he was promoted to the NTC. Nishat Rasul, a daughter of District Judge Kazi Ghulam Rasul, was the PS of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Mullah Ghulam Mohammed’s fortunes opened up and the NTC began to march with power. During the regime of deposed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, several directors of Gopalganj district along with Molla Ghulam Mohammad and Keramat Ali have looted billions of rupees from the company. The syndicate was formed under the leadership of Keramat Ali, a recently dismissed finance officer. Together they established a system of governance where the directors and management were accountable to a single individual. And that person was above all accountability. To put an end to this, the shareholders and unethically dismissed officers formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club and the head office on August 11 and 22. As a result Sheikh Hasina’s uncle Sheikh Kabir Hossain resigned from the post of chairman on August 14. Chowdhury Nafiz Sarafat, a highly influential bank and stock market looter, resigned from the post of 6 directors. Before former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled on August 5, the so-called chairmen and directors began to think that they would continue to enjoy power for years. In the last seven years, the company had incurred losses of several hundred crores. Last year alone, NTC had to calculate a loss of 68 crore rupees. In such a situation, two journalists and a shareholder of this company filed a written complaint against the corrupt officials in the various departments concerned. But because Sheikh Hasina’s uncle Sheikh Kabir Hossain is in the post of chairman, NTC can be changed, the two journalists gave up the idea. The victims were left with no other option than human shackles. At the same time no other course was open but their resignation. Finally, the chief corrupt person of this company, Keramat Ali, was fired at the 676th board meeting on 24 September. Although they wanted to dismiss the syndicate of 6 members of the board of directors of NTC and their main associate Keramat Ali from NTC, the human chain did not want to put anyone in power, rather they wanted to reform the governance system. To end the direct or indirect authority of the chairman of NTC.

In 2015, Mullah Ghulam Muhammad was promoted from Assistant Manager of NTC to Manager. It is said that the influence of Kazi Ghulam Rasool was behind his promotion. Since 2014, the then Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed could not see the promotion of District Judge Ghulam Rasul’s brother-in-law Molla Ghulam Mohammad. Later, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi was in extreme power due to his connection with PS Masukur Rahman. Molla Gholam Muhammad’s uncle was PS Masukur Rahman of Commerce Minister. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s PS Nishat introduced Rasul’s best friend Chowdhury Nafiz Sarafat to Mullah Ghulam Mohammad. With the active cooperation of Nishad Rasul and Molla Ghulam Mohammad, he irregularly bought 2 lakh 76 thousand NTC shares from the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and brought them to the board of directors. Mullah Ghulam Mohammad’s power increased after he brought two directors with the help of his uncle’s niece. A buying and looting syndicate was formed under the leadership of Mullah Ghulam Muhammad. Such abuse of power and corruption by the syndicate resulted in a loss of Rs 68 crore. No experience, no Charters Secretary qualifications, even though he could not provide any certificate of 5 years of experience as a secretary, he got appointed as company secretary. The notice published in the national daily newspaper stated that a 4-year bachelor’s degree or a certificate from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) must be obtained along with the degree. 5 years working experience as Secretary of a reputed listed company and should be experienced in company law, securities law, labor law and other relevant laws, regulations and share management. Mullah Ghulam Muhammad has not even 5 days of experience, no certificate, yet he mysteriously gets appointed as company secretary. Since then, he has held sway over the managers and assistant managers of 12 tea estates and siphoned off huge sums of money in the name of audits and falsifying corruption reports every year. National Tea Company’s 2019-2020 FY 2019-2020 CITIC purchase of Tk 40 lakh was paid before delivery of goods. But Mullah Ghulam Muhammad used to visit every garden for audit work and on reaching the garden he would buy 2/3 thousand rupees worth of medicine for his use. Food chess was double everything. which was borne by the company. To come and go from Dhaka, the highest class train tickets had to be booked. What’s more, buying and selling cows in the garden was another occupation of his. He used to take a truckload of cows to Dhaka every Eid. Nishat Rasool, the niece of Mullah Ghulam Muhammad, who served as Sheikh Hasina’s personal assistant, used her name to intimidate other employees of the company and extort masohara from every garden, and the law is still in force. Despite not meeting the experience requirements as a company secretary, he took advantage of his closeness to Sheikh Hasina to take up the position, which many shareholders expressed displeasure about. Since the change of political pot, Mullah Golam Muhammad used to identify himself as a close friend of Capital Markets BSEC Commissioner Tarikuzzaman, which helped him get special privileges from company directors. Although Commissioner Tarikuzzaman has been released from the service recently by the government. Mullah Ghulam Muhammad is also ready to change the political shell. After the change of political pot on August 5, he is making strong efforts to bring the resume of one leader of BNP in Sylhet district as an independent director in the Ministry of Commerce and BSEC. The shareholders felt that the promotion of the inexperienced and incompetent Mullah Ghulam Muhammad to the post of company secretary was against the interest of the company and demanded an inquiry into the matter. There is no official response from the company regarding these allegations against Mullah Ghulam Muhammad.

Company Secretary Mollah Ghulam Mohammad and Acting MD Syed Mahmud Hasan were contacted on WhatsApp, but no one answered their calls.