bdnews24.com :
Mohamed Wajibulla Milon, managing director of Samantha Corporation, says he has been hiding in the country now for nearly a month, fearing for his life.
RAB-1 raided the corporation’s buying house at Baridhara DOHS on Apr 6 when Milon was out and arrested 12 of his employees initially on charges of fraud.
They claimed Wajibulla is the ringleader of a fraud group that used the office as a ‘torture cell’. They also said that they found liquor, phensedyl and 38 bullets in the office.
RAB says they had got the tip-off from one SM&Co, a garment factory located at Bashundhara.
That is where perhaps hangs the tale.
Wajibulla has denied the allegations levelled against him to bdnews24.com over telephone from an undisclosed location.
“RAB has told the media that I’m a fraud, but I’m well known businessman in Bangladesh and abroad. We were making jerseys for FIFA World Cup and other labelled products when they raided my office.”
“I’m supposed to deliver the jerseys within May 15.”
Samantha Corporation is a corporate member of BGMEA and is listed under Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). The group of companies includes Rangoli Events, the organisers of South Asia Trade Fair (SATF) in Spain, Valencia.
Wajibulla said he has been a permanent Spanish resident since 2005 and travels back and forth between Bangladesh and Spain for business and family reasons.
The raid by RAB that sealed his office was planned out by business rivals out to capitalise on feuds within his company with the sole intention of taking over his business, said Wajibulla.
He said his computer, where highly valuable accounts and all his designs are stored, has also been seized.
“They first accused me of being a fraud and later filed two cases over possession of arms and drugs against me. But if Samantha Corporation is a sham company why didn’t they accuse its chairman Lokman Hossain Akash and CEO Kazi Ariful Islam of fraud? Why isn’t RAB looking for them?”
Lokman Hossain Akash is also head of international marketing at Walton and according to Wajibulla, Kazi Ariful Islam secured his trade license for his company Crystal Vision Creations while he was Samantha’s CEO.
bdnews24.com contacted Walton’s Media Wing who said Lokman Hossain Akash was away in Dubai. He could not be reached on the phone number that was provided.
Meanwhile, Ariful Islam has denied having any connections with Samantha Corporation.
“He (Wajibulla) used my Crystal Vision office before renting his own. Beyond that, I have no connection with him.”
When asked if he was the one who rented the sealed Baridhara office, he sounded upset.
“He (Wajibulla) asked me to rent it for him. I don’t want to talk to you about this. I will not say anything.”
Wajibulla believes these two men along with some of his other employees have ‘used RAB’ to plot the destruction of his flourishing business and the crack para-military wing has been sucked into business rivalries.
“They stopped coming to the office and cooperating on work after I arrived at Dhaka in January.”
“If I leave they can take over my business here. They aroused my suspicion by their many moves.”
Wajibulla said his company began working with SM&Co from March 6 through the office’s administration officer Saifuddin Saif, who joined the office in February.
“We first asked them to make us samples for 72 designs by El Rio Blanco and gave them fabric, accessories worth Tk 36.5 million, meant for producing 80,000 garment pieces.”
“When we asked for the samples, the factory’s managing director Saifuddin Milon began asking for Tk 2,200,000 saying the factory didn’t have money to pay labours’ salaries. We refused saying we will pay them when the goods are delivered”
“I sent my Quality Control (QC) officials Nihar Ranjan Das, Anwar Mostafa and Mainul Islam to their factory on Apr 1 but they were pushed out. I called MD Milon and sent them back. This time the factory told them they have finished producing the entire lot of 80,000 pieces and were packing the goods!”
