B Mirror Report
Production of Bashundhara Group food and beverage factories, Atta, Flour, Suji, Edible oil have been reduced less than half of their capacity. Other factories , Paper, LPG, cement and tissue also face downtrends. The group invested over US$ 4 billion during last two decades which is under threat for various corruption charges against its directors
The conglomerate are facing manifolds problem mainly dollar crisis, account blockade, restricted letter of credit operations as well money laundering investigations against the owners.
The group also faces regular extortion incidents by political groups though the management refrain from making any comments on it.
Bashundhara Food’s Head of Sales Redwanur Rahman told the Business Mirror that production had to cut for unavailability raw materials.
“We were unable to pay the necessary dollar for import wheat from our source counties. The situation is going worse further,” Mr Redwan added.
Bashundhara sets up flour mill with 2,000MT daily capacity which now can only produce 700 MT a day, sources confirmed. As like flour
In 2013, Bashundhara invested $181 million in the food sector, producing flour, wheat etc.
In 2020, Bashundhara invested $143.7 million to build the largest bitumen plant in BangladeshIn the same year, Bashundhara became involved in the coal trading market, with a notable example of supply 8 million tonnes of coal to the Rampal coal-fired power plant.
In 2021, Bashundhara invested $909 million to create an oil refinery on 220 acres of land in the Sitakunda upazila of the country’s port city of Chattogram.[8]
In 2022, Bashundhara invested $546 million into creating Bangladesh’s first gold refinery on 470 acres of land near the Dhaka-Purbachal highway. In the same year, Bashundhara Multi-Steel Industries invested $395 million for phase-1 of a steel manufacturing plant at Bashundhara Industrial Economic Zone at Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar in Chattogram. The phase-2 investment of $727 million will be initiated in 2025, bringing the company’s annual steel production to 3 million tonnes.[10] Later, in 2022, ABG Limited, a concern of Bashundhara group signed an agreement with the Chittagong Stock Exchange to acquire 25% of its shares for BDT 240 crore in line with the country’s demutualisation act.[11]
In 2023, Bashundhara Telecommunications Limited submitted a proposal to the Post and Telecommunications division of the country to become a strategic investor of the struggling state owned carrier TeleTalk.
Bashundhara Group has consistently focused on quality and innovation in their products and services, leading to awards and recognition.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 in the face of protests, on September 5, the police’s CID announced an investigation into allegations of money laundering against Bashundhara Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir, including those involved.
Various government agencies are conducting multi-pronged investigations against the owners of Bashundhara Group, one of Bangladesh’s largest industrial groups, on various allegations including money laundering abroad and moving money without the permission of the central bank. Legal action will be taken against the group based on these investigations, the sources said.
The CID’s notification then referred to Sayem Sobhan Anvir as ‘one of the controllers of the country’s gold smuggling syndicate’.
During the intense anti-government mass movement on July 22, the group’s owner, Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, was among the businessmen who came to the discussion expressing solidarity with the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Pointing to the protesters at a businessmen’s meeting in the presence of Sheikh Hasina, she said, “We have to destroy these terrorist and militant forces. For this, we have to unite.”
