Search in the room of two art officials, Tk 21 lakh 60 thousand recovered
October 3, 20242 Mins Read
Jumbangla Desk: Former Director General of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Liaquat Ali Laki's PS Cultural Officer Abu Saleh Md. After searching the locked room of Abdullah and cultural officer Sadia bint Afzal working in that department, Tk 21 lakh 60 thousand in cash and important documents were recovered.

A 4-member team led by Academy Secretary Mr. Salahuddin conducted the search in the presence of the accused. The officers and employees of the academy expressed their surprise at the news of the recovery of a large amount of cash during the search.

It is to be noted that on September 29, a total of 10 beneficiaries of Laki along with the accused and cultural officers involved in the misdeeds were OSD. Earlier, Tk 2 lakh in cash was searched in the room of the former director general and Tk 20 lakh in cash and important documents were recovered in the room of Cultural Officer M Mostak Hossain.

Shilpakala Academy Assistant Director (PS) Abu Saleh. He was present during the search of Abdullah's room. What money was found? When asked, he said that money was taken in advance for the festival. A few more events were billed. These are the money. After 5th August, we were not able to enter our rooms and it remained like this. I informed the secretary sir.

He also claimed that there was a way to withdraw the money for the event in advance.

It may be noted that every year the so-called 'syndicate' of Shilpakala Academy withdraws crores of rupees through fake vouchers. On the same date (June 27) several vouchers were withdrawn worth lakhs of rupees. At the time, academy officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said withdrawal of money on fake vouchers was a widespread practice at the academy.

Earlier in the audit report, the information of irregularities of Tk 228 crores was mentioned, there was a financial loss of Tk 5 crore 2 lakh 3 thousand 716 due to giving more than Tk 7 lakh advance to the officers and employees for various events of the organization in violation of the rules. Ignoring the rules, money from one sector was spent in another sector, causing financial irregularities of millions of rupees.

During the search of the room, the official instructor (drama, training department) Ehsanur Rahman was present there. Pointing out that the accused are misrepresenting the money, he said, 'Haor Utsav 2022 is a fake event. Which actually didn't happen. So the money collected in advance in 2022 remained the responsibility of officials in 2024? Actually, in the context of August 5, they did not get the opportunity to move the money. Irregularities like withdrawing money in advance, issuing checks in the name of other officials without notifying them were converted into rules in the art.'

Academy secretary Salahuddin Ahmed was contacted to inquire about this but could not be contacted.

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