Bashundhara Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh, has wanted the help of the interim government in a bid to protect its business operations, the jobs of thousands of workers, and its name and fame at home and abroad.
The request came following a widespread campaign by certain state agencies against the company.
Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, chairman of Bashundhara Group, wrote a letter to Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus on 2 October, expressing his worries over what he called misinformation and defamatory statements being spread by government agencies in domestic and international media.
The corporation, which has over 80,000 workers, cited a recent press release from the police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as an example.
In a statement released by the CID on 5 September, 2024, which was extensively covered by the media, the company, its chairman, and its managing director were made accused in smuggling, money laundering, and land grabbing, all of which Bashundhara claims had no legal justification.
According to the CID's release, 1,016 acres of land, including 800 acres of government property and 216 acres of the Bhawal Raj Estate, had been unlawfully taken by Bashundhara.
It further asserted that just a small portion of the company's residential projects had the required permission from Rajuk, the city development authority and most of the company's residential sites lacked proper authorisation.
Bashundhara responded by saying that the courts have the right to decide whether or not these grave accusations are true, and that as of yet, the group has not found any ruling on the issue of land grabbing.
Additionally, the company rejected the claims of financial misconduct as speculative and baseless. These accusations included claims of siphoning funds abroad through fraudulent loans.
According to Bashundhara, such grave allegations should be raised on the basis of thorough investigations and concrete evidences.
It also criticised news outlets and the CID of undermining journalistic standards by "irresponsibly" spreading the allegations without proper verification.
The letter reads as saying, "No allegations of wrongdoing have ever been raised by any banks or financial institutions, including the central regulatory bank. On the contrary,
Bashundhara Group has always maintained a flawless record of loan repayments without any instance of default over its 40 years of history."
"Moreover, the valuation of the lands mortgaged to banks as collaterals against its loans has multiplied manifold over the years, keeping the banks secured at all times."
Bashundhara Group has denied any importation of bitumen and any charges of trade-based money laundering connected to the material.
The conglomerate also dismissed what it called nebulous and fabricated accusations of tax evasion and gold smuggling, asserting that they were unfounded and devoid of reliable proof.
These accusations, according to Bashundhara, were made public before a thorough inquiry. The charges were spread by the CID and magnified by the media through what the group referred to as "yellow journalism."
"The dissemination, publication, and circulation of these unfounded vague allegations, made without any investigation whatsoever or without following due process of law, have severely tarnished and damaged the group's reputation and caused significant harm to its business operations as well as adversely affected thousands of employees and their family members whose livelihoods are directly associated with Bashundhara Group," reads the letter.
Ahmed Akbar Sobhan also said, "Hence, we request your Excellency (Chief Adviser) to instruct the authorities concerned to withdraw and remove from CID's website the said press release and to do the needful for mitigating and preventing the spread of disparaging and defamatory misinformation that are being purposefully disseminated amongst the public at large with the country and abroad."
