Malaysian project grabbed by Bangladeshi PM's brother in law

by News Desk
August 30, 2011

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1733/malaysian-project-grabbed-by-bangladeshi-pm

When Bangladesh is facing severe electricity crisis for years, a power plant in private sector established by a Malaysian company named Westmont Group has allegedly been grabbed by the husband of the younger sister of Bangladeshi Prime Minister, causing suspension of production. This 90-megawatt unit of Baghabari power plant came into operation in 2004. Westmont Group, a multi-national independent power producer [IPP], established this new barge mounted unit as an extension of its previous 90 MW simple cycle plant. This had been the first agreement signed between the PDB and an IPP for setting up a new unit of power plant during the previous BNP led coalition government.

Dato Sri Joseph Chong, managing director of Westmont Power [Bangladesh] Limited submitted a written complaint on August 17, 2011 to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and sent copy of this letter to all major news agencies and newspapers in the world, as well as Country Representative, World Bank; Country Representative, UNDP; Country Representative, Asian Development Bank and all foreign missions in Bangladesh.

In the mentioned letter to Bangladeshi Prime Minister, titled "Forced occupation of Westmont Power [Bangladesh] limited", Dato Sri Joseph Chong wrote:

"Kindly note, that some people, who are close relatives of your kind self, under the direct patronization of Prof. Shafique Ahmed Siddique [House #1 , Road#127, Gulshan 1, Dhaka] the husband of Sheikh Rehana and brother of the Defence Advisor to Your Kindself, have forcefully taken over our company, Westmont Power [Bangladesh] Limited [WPBL]; including our office in Dhaka and the barge mounted power plant at Baghabari in phases by fabricating and falsifying documents. Their botched and forced takeover has resulted in the complete shutdown of the power plant at Baghabari.

"Prof. Shafique Ahmed Siddique, who believes in the LAW OF THE JUNGLE, is being assisted in this dirty act, by Mr. Hasan Mahmood Raja of United Group and Mr. Md. Haroon Ar-Rashid. All ownership documents they are showing to Ministry, BPDB, courts etc are false and fabricated.

"Hon. Prime Minister, in the present circumstances only your direct intervention can save the situation and bring a lawful and legal conclusion to the problem. We request your kind instruction to Bangladesh Power Development Board [BPDB] to stop all dealings with Mr. Hasan Mahmood Raja and Mr. Md. Haroon Ar-Rashid AND all payments to WPBL with immediate effect; Failing which Your Honorable kind self and Your Government will be responsible for all consequences thereof.

"Despite the totally false and fabricated nature of their claims - but as Prof Shafiq Ahmed Siddique is the husband of your only sister, Sheikh Rehana and brother of your Defence Advisor, therefore I think it will be fair to order an international arbitration [or a court action] in London, United Kingdom to verify their claims of ownership if any. Kindly also note that Your Government and BPDB is bound by international laws because of the sovereign guarantees furnished by Government of Bangladesh to WPBL, therefore it is pertinent that BPDB and your Government should stop dealing with the disputants until the matter is resolved."

This is for the first time, since Bangladesh Awami League formed government under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, any foreign investor has submitted complaint with such serious allegation against a family member of the Prime Minister.

It may be mentioned here that, chairman of Westmont Power [Bangladesh] Limited, Kazi Tajul Islam Faruk lodged an extortion case on April 9, 2007 against Sheikh Hasina, during the military controlled interim government's rule. Later, immediately after Bangladesh Awami League came in power, Faruk was sacked from the board of directors of the company on January 5, 2009. It was later revealed that, former chief of Bangladesh Army, General Moeen U Ahmed used Kazi Faruk Ahmed in lodging a hurriedly false accusation against Sheikh Hasina. In exchange of lodging the false case, Kazi Tajul took lots of undue benefits from the military controlled regime during 2007-2008. When remaining directors as well the foreign investors of Westmont Group came to know about the wrongdoings of Kazi Tajul Islam, they unanimously decided to remove him from the board of directors of the company.

REACTION:

We received a reaction to this news item from the following person, who did not mention his address or any contact information except the validated website address. On the other hand, we sent an email to Dato Sri Joseph Chong, asking further clarification to this matter. But our email remained unanswered. Here is the reaction from Mashnoor Chowdhury:

Sir, I would like to bring to your attention that the article in your weekly magazine, is misleading for readers as it contains information which is not accurate and or conclusive. Mr. Prof. Shafique Ahmed Siddique, who has been accused by Mr. Dato Sri for patronization, is completely false and inaccurate, as he has no relationship with the company "Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited. According to the company's shareholding distribution Mr. Haroon Ar-Rashid, Mr. Mujibor Rahman and Mrs. Farzana Anjum are 30% shareholders, where as United Enterprise Ltd are 30% shareholders and the rest 40% of the shares are owned by Westmont Power. Thus the aforesaid individual Mr. Shafique Ahmed Siddique has no relationship or any shareholding in the company whatsoever, which proves that he has no interest of any forceful takeover as alleged by Mr. Dato Sri Joseph Chong, in his letter to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The above allegations are thus been deemed as false and untrue in nature.

I would like to give you a brief history of the company which will also enable you to have a better understanding of the situation. Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited, under the leadership of Mr. Dato Sri Joseph Chong, was going through severe financial crisis for the past 5 years. The company was not able to meet its debt obligations to the Banks and other financial institutions and was falling behind in its payments, which subsequently made the company a defaulter. The company also needed significant amount of investment in order to go through the scheduled maintenance and prevent the plant from complete shutdown. Mr. Dato Sri hence made an offer to United Enterprise and the other respective current shareholders as mentioned above, to invest in his company as he was willing to issue new shares, which was accepted by all, under mutual understanding. As a result, Mr. Dato issued new shares of the company which was filed under the rules and regulations of Bangladesh Government and have also been accepted by RJSC and the transaction between Westmont and its new shareholders were done through an approved and proper Banking channel which left little and no room for any false documentation or records. Mr. Dato, who was serving as the managing Director of the company, and other Malaysian Directors such as Mr. Vijayan Anandan and Mr. Paisal bin Arifudin signed and approved the whole process and completed the necessary paper works which can be submitted for verification purposes. Thus, the paper works are legitimate as it bears their signatures in not only one page but in all the necessary pages.

With the newly raised capital Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited, under the instruction of Mr. Dato Sri, imported new machines and spare parts, through proper L/C (Letter of Credit) of National Bank Limited and made partial payments to its lenders and Banks. He tried to regularize the company's position as the company was starting to become financially solvent. All the above mentioned transactions have been documented properly and can be provided if anyone needs any verification.

Several subsequent meetings were held during this time in different locations such as Malaysia and Singapore where different documents were signed which also proves the legitimacy of all important papers. Thus, Mr. Dato left no room to allege that the documents are false or inaccurate, as he was the signatory in all of them.

Sir, taking the above facts into consideration, we believe that Mr. Dato Sri is trying to take advantage of the political situation here in Bangladesh and in making such ridiculous and untrue allegations he is deterring the reputation of some of the most respected individuals of the country and organizations in front of the rest of the world, which is totally unacceptable. If you and your readers are interested in verifying the truth, we welcome you to have a discussion with us.

Mashnoor Chowdhury

Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited

Email: mashnoor@united.com.bd

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