Allegations of embezzlement of Tk 3 lakh as travel allowance and Tk 2,76,000/- in fake bill vouchersDemand to cancel illegal appointment of Assistant Family Planning Officer Reshma Khatun in Magura

Accused Reshma Khatun and Darul Alam

Reshma Khatun, TFPA (Class III) of Shalikha Upazila Family Planning Office of Magura District, was illegally appointed to perform additional duties as Assistant Family Planning Officer (Class II) in Sadar Upazila Family Planning Office of the same district while performing her duties at her workplace. And through this illegal appointment, the accused Reshma Khatun has illegally earned money in excess of the government-determined salary.

It is to be noted that according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Public Administration on 18/04/2023 (Rule-1 Branch Memorandum No. 05.00.0000.170.11.017.21-97), in case of giving additional responsibilities to a government employee, he/she can be appointed in the same post/grade as the main post/grade.

In this case, Reshma Khatun, who was working in a third-class post, was illegally assigned to a second-class post through a notification issued by the Department of Family Planning on May 22, 2017, which is completely contrary to the appointment rules of the Ministry of Public Administration.

In addition, Reshma Khatun, a third-class employee working in the 15th grade of the then government pay scale at 9,700-23,490, was supposed to be given additional responsibilities in the 14th higher grade at a salary of 10,400-24,680 (third grade), but in violation of the rules and regulations related to government recruitment rules, she was given additional responsibilities in the 10th grade (16,000-38,640), which is equivalent to the second grade, i.e., five steps above the 15th grade. This appointment given to Reshma Khatun is completely contrary to government rules and is illegal.

This does not end here, in this illegal appointment given to Reshma Khatun, another provision related to government appointments has been violated. According to the government appointment rules, a temporary limit of six (06) months has been set for assigning any employee serving in a specific post to any post in addition to the main post. The approval of the concerned promotion committee or board must be obtained before the expiry of six (06) months. Failure to obtain this approval will automatically cancel the said appointment/posting order/notification after six (06) months.

In this case, eight (08) years have passed since Reshma Khatun, working in a third-class post, was given additional responsibilities in a second-class post illegally through a notification issued by the Department of Family Planning on May 22, 2017, but the approval of the concerned promotion committee or board has not been received till date. As a result, these rules regarding recruitment and promotion have been clearly violated.

In addition, Reshma Khatun, who is working in a third-class position completely illegally and illegally, has wrongfully received three (03) lakh taka as the basic travel allowance and replacement travel allowance of a second-class officer permanently employed as a government family planning officer.

In addition, the accused Reshma Khatun has illegally withdrawn Tk 2,76,000/- from the Khulna Employees Welfare Board for medical expenses through fake bill vouchers. This has been considered a punishable offense due to violation of government service rules.

In this regard, the officers and employees working in the concerned department have made a written request to recover all the money illegally embezzled by Reshma Khatun and deposit it in the government treasury.

According to information received from reliable sources, Darul Alam, the then acting Family Planning Officer of Sadar Upazila of Magura district, was directly involved in the embezzlement of Tk 2,76,000/- by Reshma Khatun from Khulna Employees Welfare Board through fake and forged bill vouchers. Darul Alam, currently working as the Family Planning Officer of Haripur Upazila of Thakurgaon district, conspired with each other while performing his duties in Magura district and countersigned all the bill vouchers given by Reshma Khatun as correct without verification and sent them to Khulna Employees Welfare Board. Later, Darul Alam and Reshma Khatun divided the money received and embezzled it. In this regard, the officers and employees working in the Family Planning Department have applied for departmental action against Darul Islam.

It is worth noting that Darul, who became the owner of various properties worth crores of taka through irregularities, corruption and position trading, has been the subject of a mountain of complaints from various departments, including the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Bangladesh Labour Commission and others. But despite this, he remains in office.

Accused Darul Alam was involved in the recruitment business of the Department of Family Planning and bribed people from Magura, Jhenaidah, Kushtia, Narail, Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and other districts to get jobs. Sensational information has come out while digging into his corruption. When he was the Magura Sadar Upazila Family Planning Assistant (TFPA), the field employees of Magura Sadar applied for his transfer to stop his rampant corruption.

Due to the same allegations, the ACC temporarily suspended him with the seizure of his documents. Then, after returning to work, he continued his corruption. At that time, he was accused of various charges including collecting fake bills, vouchers and travel allowance. Among them, he embezzled money from the salary of Mukti Rani Karmakar, the inspector of Magura Sadar Gopalgram Family Welfare Center. This matter also escalated to the then deputy director.

Darul Alam became so reckless in bribery and recruitment business that he gave jobs to a total of 15 people, including 5 from the same family and 2 from another family from Magura. The 5 recruited workers from the same family are Suraiya Ahmed, Jhuna Parveen, Mahfuza Khanam Dina, Kamrul Islam and Nurjahan Begum. The first three of them are sisters. The strangest thing is that they are over 40 years old, which is an unprecedented incident.

Meanwhile, Darul Alam is also ahead in appointing his own family members, setting the most naked example of nepotism. Among the appointees are his sister-in-law Jahanara Parveen and cousin Shamshun Nahar Poli. However, Darul Islam used a fake address to show that he was a permanent resident of Hakimpur Union in Chaugachha Upazila of Jessore district and got his other sister-in-law Shahanara Khatun appointed as a family welfare inspector in Magura district. Later, after the allegations were proven to be true, the investigation committee declared Shahanara Khatun's appointment illegal and dismissed her from the job.

He has done many other illegal things in these recruitments, including hiding his age. He has used photos taken 18-20 years ago, including making fake eighth grade certificates, fake certificates of a nurse and a doctor. There is no such illegal method that he has not adopted for the sake of his recruitment business. This matter is also under investigation. Almost two years have passed since the investigation. But the results are zero. Those three sisters are still working. Darul Alam has even used fake addresses in the recruitment of some. He has been committing such crimes day after day with the direct and indirect cooperation and immoral benefits of some dishonest officials of the Family Planning Department.

This is not the end. Recently, despite not having a quota, he took a bribe of 10,00,000/- (Ten lakhs Taka) from Jannatul Ferdous, daughter of Nadira Yasmin of Bagerhat, in the name of giving her a job as a 'Family Welfare Inspector' by giving false information. Even a fake viva board was formed in the Family Planning Department and the viva of the said Jannatul Ferdous was also taken. But there was no name of Jannatul Ferdous in the final result list. He embezzled the entire bribe money through an innovative fraud.

Later, former Upazila Family Planning Officer Rebecca Khatun, a close relative of the victim, filed a written complaint against Darul Alam at the office of the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 19/03/2023, demanding the return of the bribe money.

The biggest issue is that the Department of Family Planning has not responded to the complaint filed against Darul Alam in the last 5 years. By delaying, they are actually supporting him.

In addition, despite hundreds of complaints against Darul Alam by ACC, the Ministry has concealed the information in a letter dated 20/10/2021, Memorandum No. Pop/Sha-1/SPPOK (Chhda)/775/2010, and has taken or given illegal and immoral benefits and has obtained the selection grade/time scale for itself, which is a clear violation of the government's rules and regulations.

Corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement of state funds, nepotism, moral corruption, there is no crime that he has not committed in his long service life. How Darul Alam is still in government service despite committing so many crimes; that is the million crores of taka's question now.