The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) launched an investigation against former General Manager (GM) of Bangladesh Television (BTV), Mahfuza Akter, on charges of accumulating assets worth nearly 400 crore taka through corruption and irregularities.
Over the span of 15 and a half years, she became the owner of substantial assets both domestically and internationally by accepting bribes from artists, performers, and contractors, embezzling funds from government projects, and withdrawing crores of taka in bills without producing any programs.
Sources reveal that Sujit Roy, a valiant freedom fighter from Chattogram and a sound artist of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, filed a complaint at the ACC headquarters in Segunbagicha on March 7, 2023. The ACC accepted the complaint and forwarded it to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for departmental investigation.
On March 19 of the same year, musician Asit Ranjan Biswas and singer Rubel Mia, on behalf of the artist community, submitted various allegations to the Director General. Additionally, a detailed 132-page complaint against Mahfuza Akter was submitted to the ACC.
After verifying the complaints and conducting an inquiry through its intelligence unit, ACC decided to initiate an open investigation against her.
However, when contacted via mobile phone for comments regarding these allegations, Mahfuza Akter declined to comment.
Reports indicate that during her tenure at the BTV Chattogram center, Mahfuza Akter abused her power and illegally produced a total of 639 programs from January to December 2022. She embezzled a total of 7,904,000 taka by showing program production without actually producing and airing numerous programs.
Additionally, she misappropriated 12,900,000 taka by transferring funds between different codes.
She violated the PPR rules by not inviting tenders and embezzled money by showing daily purchases of 2-3 items without actually buying them.
Furthermore, during the 2021-22 fiscal year, she breached PPR rules again by falsely showing daily purchases worth 25,000 taka, embezzling 4,704,000 taka.
After joining the Chittagong center, she embezzled 2,107,000 taka by showing the purchase of various furniture and curtains.
On November 12, ACC interrogated former GM of BTV, Mahfuza Akter, throughout the day, accusing her of accumulating illegal assets worth millions of taka through corruption and authoritarian practices during the tenure of the Awami League government. The agency stated that she was questioned regarding allegations of embezzling 21 crore taka. Among these allegations, there are accusations of embezzling 13 crore taka in collusion with three officials from BTV's artist honorarium fund.
ACC Deputy Director (Public Relations), Akhtarul Islam, said that a statement was taken from Mahfuza Akter as part of the inquiry process based on ACC guidelines to gather information about her assets. The investigation into the corruption allegations against her is ongoing.
According to ACC sources, Mahfuza Akter has purchased a house in Toronto, Canada, on Bangla Town's 8th Road for 3 million dollars. Additionally, she owns assets worth nearly 100 crore taka in various locations, including in Dhaka and Rangpur. These assets include an eight-story building in Vatara, a luxurious 3,000 square foot flat in Gulshan-Niketan, another flat of approximately 2,500 square feet in Rampura-Banasree, a six-story house on seven kathas of land in Mistripara, Rangpur, two similar houses in New Jumma Para, a petrol pump and several bighas of land in Gajaghanta, Gangachara, and two luxurious private cars.
Reports show that in the 2022-23 fiscal year, Mahfuza Akter embezzled an additional 13 crore 28 lakh taka from the budget under the guise of program production, without prior approval. By issuing orders for the production of weekly and serial dramas, she created a false budget for artist honorariums by showing drama production and broadcasting in the name of Mohsin Sardar, embezzling 91 lakh taka. She also passed 343 large-budget bills herself and embezzled 47 lakh taka through various means. As a producer of various dramas, she issued fake checks and embezzled 1 crore 12 lakh taka between 2014 and 2019.
Additionally, as the PD of the JICA HD project, she created a syndicate and embezzled 4 crore 51 lakh taka between 2014 and 2018.
Translated by ARK/Bd-Pratidin English
