Factions wrangle over control of the Bangladesh Economic Association

A power struggle erupted within the Bangladesh Economic Association, with two factions claiming legitimacy and engaging in public disagreement.

One group, calling itself an ad hoc committee, claimed that earlier the committee, headed by Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, collaborated with former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her party, the Awami League.

The ad hoc commission says the previous commission expressed solidarity with Hasina’s policies, including her alleged support for genocide, during a meeting on August 3.

The Secretary General of the previous commission, Mr. Aynul Islam, vehemently denied these allegations. He recently told the media that the formation of the ad hoc committee was illegal and undemocratic as the previous committee had won the most recent elections in May 2024. Aynul Islam also claimed that the allegations against the committee were baseless and politically motivated.

The ad hoc committee called a press briefing today at 11:00. By 11:20, both factions arrived at the scene and engaged in a heated argument. The army was called in to restore order. Later, ad hoc committee chairman Mohammad Azizur Rahman made a written statement.

He said that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina, the active members of the anti-discrimination movement demanded the resignation of the leaders of the Bangladesh Economic Association.

Under pressure from the movement, the committee’s previous leaders initially announced they would resign within seven days, but closed the association’s office indefinitely and left, Azizur Rahman said.

“In response, on October 2, two months later, the anti-discrimination economists formed a new ad hoc committee. The purpose of the committee is to organize fair elections involving all members,” he said.

He said that on October 29, around 9:00 am, a group of about 15 people, including seven former committee members and several banned agents of the Chhatra League, forced their way into the office of the association. They detained office assistant Nahid Islam and took his mobile phone along with keys to all the rooms and the main gate, he said.

“The group confiscated all the keys, filled two bags with association documents and cash and left, putting new locks on all the doors and gates,” Azizur Rahman said.

In the association’s May elections, 27 out of 28 candidates were elected from the panel led by Kholiquzzaman.

The chairman of the ad-hoc committee said the election held under the banned committee on May 17-18, 2024 was a “trave”. Of approximately 8,500 eligible voters, only 800 participated.

“During Hasina’s regime, the Bangladesh Economic Association was turned into an affiliate of the Awami League. The association’s leaders leveraged their positions and the organization’s reputation to secure roles as chairmen and directors in various banks,” said Azizur Rahman .

He said: “Abul Barkat (a former president of the association) is the founder of fundamentalist and extremist economics. He received millions of taka from various government agencies to uncover extremism and fundamentalism in Bangladesh”.

Azizur Rahman went on to say, “Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, Abul Barkat, Md Aynul Islam, Jamal Uddin Ahmed and Hannanah Begum turned the institution into a partisan organisation.

“They engaged in lending to unscrupulous businessmen as bank presidents, facilitating money laundering abroad and changing the ownership of banks, resulting in the destruction of sharia-based banks through nefarious practices.

“Abul Barkat, who was the chairman of Janata Bank for a long time, knowingly led the bank to ruin by issuing thousands of crores of taka in bad loans. Former finance minister AMA Muhith mentioned his irregularities several times .”

The chairman of the ad hoc committee also said that Jamal Uddin Ahmed, who was the vice-president of the Bangladesh Economic Association and became the chairman of the same bank, also contributed to the further destruction of the Janata Bank by issuing additional loans to the state of default.

Before the national elections, Barkat, Aynul and Kholiquzzaman published a so-called research report under the banner of the Bangladesh Economic Association, predicting that the Awami League would win 273 seats in the elections, Azizur Rahman said.

Economist Mahbub Ullah, who was present at the press conference, said: “I am a permanent member of this organization, but I have not participated even once in the last 20 years. I believe that participating in this institution would mean supporting their unethical activities. “

He added: “I believe that all the data and results announced by this committee over the last 15 years have been misinformation.

“Abul Barkat presented data for time and specific purposes. I hope the ad hoc committee will hold acceptable elections in time.”