Shahid Islam Papul, a Member of Parliament arrested in Kuwait on charges of money laundering and human trafficking, has been removed from the post of director of the private NRB Commercial (NRBC) Bank. He has also been removed from the post of vice chairman of the bank and chairman of NRBC Bank Securities.
The decision was taken at the bank’s 100th board meeting. The matter has been confirmed by the chairman of the bank Tamal Parvez.
Kazi Papul is a Member of Parliament from Laxmipur-2 constituency. Kuwait’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested him on the night of June 8 on charges of fraud, money laundering and visa trafficking. The country last decided to keep him in the central jail for 21 days on June 24.
According to bank sources, the central bank approved NRBC Bank in 2013, which was formed on the initiative of expatriates. Farashat Ali, former president of the United States Awami League, was the founding chairman of the bank. At that time he was the director of the bank of expatriate businessmen living in different countries. Among them, Shahid Islam, a Kuwaiti expatriate, became the director of the bank. When Farashat Ali was dropped from the bank due to various irregularities, Tamal Parvez and Shahid Islam took control of the bank.
At the time of the bank’s establishment, Papul bought ownership of two crore shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. At present its shares are about two crore 32 lakhs. This is 4 percent of the total shares of the bank. Even if he is removed from the post of director, his shares in the bank will remain until he is found guilty in court.
It is learned that after his arrest in Kuwait, the Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank recently summoned the bank accounts of Papul or his interested persons or organizations. BFIU is investigating his money laundering case. The Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Board of Revenue are also investigating. In such a situation, the board of directors of the bank decided to remove him from the board of directors.
After Papul’s arrest, SM Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Kuwait, was quoted in an Arab Times report from Kuwait as saying that the Bangladesh embassy would not interfere in the Kuwaiti government’s investigation against Kazi Shahid Islam Papul.
