A total of 32 loan and tax defaulters lost their candidacy to fight in the upcoming election of the country’s apex trade body the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI).
The FBCCI election board issued a notice on Sunday stating that 32 candidacies were not accepted, including of loan and tax defaulters, according to the updated report of the Bangladesh Bank published on 7 July and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) report published on 10 July.
A total of 70 people had applied to compete for 23 director posts in the election slated for 31 July.
Besides, the board has not taken any decision about the candidature of Abdul Haque and Enayet Ullah Siddiqui and asked them to get clarifications from NBR over their status of tax payments.
The election board also rejected some nominations due to mismatches of candidates’ signatures and other mistakes in nomination papers.
Election board sources said candidates have two days to appeal to the appellate board to review the decision.
The defaulters
Association group candidates Md Shafiqul Islam Vorosha and Md Abul Hossain’s nominations were rejected as they were reported as loan defaulters and tax defaulters by the Bangladesh bank and the NBR respectively, while Mohammad Khorshed Alam, Khandaker Ruhul Amin and KM Akhtaruzzaman’s nomination were rejected as they were reported as loan defaulters by the Bangladesh Bank.
Sayed Sadat Almas Kabir, Mohammad Monsur, Shahab Uddin Khan, Nizamuddin Rajesh, Md Abul Hashem, Serajul Islam, Md Rakibul Alam, Salama Hossain Ash, Md. Jakir Hossain, Taher Ahmed Siddiqui, Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder, Mohammed Abul Basher, Khondakar Enayet Ullah and Md Habib Ullah Dawn’s nomination were rejected as they have been reported as tax defaulters by the NBR.
Fazlee Shamim Ehsan’s nomination has been rejected as his signature did not match his specimen signature given in the voter form.
Mousumi Islam and Mohammad Anwar Hossain’s nominations were rejected as their voter number in the nomination form was penned through.
Chamber group candidates Hasiana Newaaz, Md Shah Jalal, Mohabbat Ullah, Abul Kashem Khan, Samiul Haque Safa, and Sujib Ranjan Dash’s nominations were rejected as they were reported as tax defaulters by the NBR.
Md Ali Hossain (Shishir) got his nomination rejected as he was reported as a loan defaulter by the Bangladesh Bank.
Mohammaed Riyadh Ali, Mohammad Fayazur Rahman Bhuiyan and Mohammad Nizam Uddin’s nominations were rejected as they were reported as loan defaulters by the Bangladesh Bank and tax defaulters by the NBR.
As per the election schedule, the election will be held from 9 am to 4 pm non-stop, and the names of the elected directors will be announced after the poll.
The elected directors will then elect the FBCCI president, senior vice-president and six vice-presidents will be held on 2 August.
3 June was the last date for sending the names of the General Body (GB) members to the federation. The Election Board published the primary voter list on June 11 and the final list on June 21 after the verification of complaints and necessary amendments.
The first of July was the last date for filling nominations for the post of director. The list of approved candidates will be published on 15 July.
The last day for withdrawing candidature is 18 July. The final list of candidates will be published on the same day.
Former President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) A Matin Chowdhury is the chairman of the 2023-25 election board.
The other two members of the board are former FBCCI Director Shamsul Alam and Director of Agrani Bank K M N Manjurul Haque.
