BM Desk : The chairman of the insurance industry watchdog IDRA has received a letter from the Ministry of Finance’s Financial Institutions Department (FID) informing him of the measures taken in response to the accusations made against GM Kibria, the chairman’s wife Hosne Ara Begum, and Managing Director Shah Jamal Howlader of the NRB Islamic Life Insurance Company. On June 23, the letter was delivered. This knowledge was gathered from reliable sources.

The source claims that a guy named Mujibur Rahman has submitted a written complaint with the FID Secretary, claiming to be an insurance client of NRB Islamic Life Insurance Company, for embezzling the money of the chairman, MD, and chairman’s wife. The application also includes news articles about this topic that have been published in a variety of media.

In the application, insurance customer Mujibur Rahman expressed concerns that since NRB Islamic Life operates as a public limited company, the interests of the government, shareholders, and policyholders are intertwined. However, it has been alleged that the company’s top executives have laundered crores of taka overseas by leveraging their connections with politically influential figures and the former ruling party. This accusation has been reported in various national media outlets.

The letter claims that GM Kibria, the organizing secretary of the European Awami League and president of the Italian Awami League, along with his wife Hosne Ara Begum and the company’s CEO Shah Jamal Howlader, are involved in embezzling premium funds and laundering them abroad through various means.

Mujibur Rahman noted in the letter that IDRA had previously identified significant corruption within NRB Islamic Life Insurance, including various irregularities, the sale of unapproved insurance products, excessive expenditures, policy lapses, and misrepresenting single premiums as term insurance during their investigation.

Consequently, the IDRA authorities declined Shah Jamal Howlader’s reappointment proposal in a letter dated June 10, 2024. The letter described the CEO’s actions as anti-customer and ‘extremely risky’ for the company.

After the ‘fascist’ administration was overthrown in the July-August public movement, the insurance customer questioned how the company’s longstanding, powerful management were still in place. He called for the dismissal of NRB Islamic Life’s board of directors, the appointment of an administrator, and judicial action against the defendants in 2024. He also asked the administration to take action to bring the stolen funds back to the nation.

In order to take note of the accusations made against the company, Mohammad Abraul Hasan Majumder, Deputy Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh’s Financial Institutions Department, wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA).