Transcom Group has issued a statement protesting a report alleging that its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Simeen Rahman bribed deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with Tk100 crore last year to halt legal proceedings against her.
However, the group's response raises further questions and seems to confirm some of the claims of the report titled ‘Simeen Rahman bribed Hasina with Tk100cr to hush up cases’ run on 3 February.
In the rebuttal issued on Thursday, Transcom Group claimed that there is no account of Simeen Rahman with Standard Chartered Bank which is completely false. The fact is, there are at least four ventures of Transcom Group, including The Daily Star, that hold accounts with Standard Chartered Bank.
The accounts are with the Gulshan, Motijheel and Karwan Bazar branches of the bank that are linked to Simeen Rahman and her organisations. Transcom Group claimed that the body of Arshad Waliur Rahman, brother of Simeen Rahman, was not exhumed from the grave and there was no postmortem.
However, the fact is that the court ordered the exhumation of his body for further investigation. Simeen Rahman approached Sheikh Hasina to negotiate an agreement after the court order.
The secret deal between Simeen Rahman and Sheikh Hasina prevented the exhumation, raising questions about why Simeen Rahman would oppose an autopsy if there was no cause for concern. Was this because she feared that the postmortem would reveal the truth? This proved that Simeen maintained connections with Sheikh Hasina.
In the protest note, Transcom Group further mentioned that Simeen Rahman stayed outside the country from 20 February to 3 April 2024 for alleged conspiracies from the fascist government. However, Simeen Rahman returned to the country on 14 March to meet Sheikh Hasina secretly and left Dhaka again on 20 March.
Those who have multiple passports or hold any foreign passport apart from the Bangladeshi can resort to this kind of act to conceal information and crimes.
Simeen Rahman returned to Dhaka on 3 April last year and appeared in the court seeking bail.
It omitted any mention of Simeen Rahman's presence in the country on 15 June. The company indirectly acknowledges her meeting with Sheikh Hasina at Gonobhaban on that day.
The company failed to address the allegations of providing Tk25 crore to Suchona Foundation, an organisation of Saima Wazed Putul, daughter of Sheikh Hasina, and another Tk25 crore to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust as bribe.
The ownership of the company, which the statement touched upon, is pending with the court and so we do not want to make any comment on the matter.
The rejoinder itself proved that Transcom Group tried to hush up the cases the way she avoided arrest through bribery and in the interference of the influential persons. It is understood from the fabricated statement that she wanted to influence the court. Making any comment on sub-judice matters is tantamount to contempt of court.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
