NBR seeks bank A/C info of former RU VC Sobhan, family

The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) under the National Board of Revenue (NBR) sought information of bank accounts of former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Rajshahi University (RU) Dr M Abdus Sobhan and his family members.
The cell issued a letter, dated May 24, 2021, to the commercial banks, seeking bank account information of Mr Sobhan, his wife Monowara Sobhan, son Mushfiq Sobhan, daughter Sanjana Sobhan and son-in-law ATM Shahed Pervez since July 1, 2014 - by next seven days of receiving the letter in a bid to investigate tax evasion.
In the letter, signed by deputy director of CIC Fatima Khatun, the NBR requested commercial banks to furnish information of joint or single accounts, business accounts, term deposits such as FDR and STD, any kind of savings account, current account, loan account, foreign currency account, credit card, locker or vault, savings certificate or other savings instruments, investment scheme or deposit scheme or other such accounts, even if those are dormant or closed by the taxpayers in this period.
In the letter, the CIC sent two prescribed formats to the banks for sending information of loan accounts and other than loan accounts of those taxpayers.
The banks would have to provide data on credit, interest, tax at source, year-end balance of each financial year (FY) since 2014.
For loan account, the CIC sought information on volume of total loan, repayment of loan excluding interest or charges, interest or charges imposed, and year-end balance of each of the FY.
The Income Tax Ordinance 1984, Section 113 (F), empowered taxmen to ask banks to provide bank account information of suspected taxpayers. Commercial banks are bound to provide the information to the CIC as per law.
The high-ups of the banks may face penal action in case of not delivering the required information to the NBR.
As per Section 124 of income tax law, taxmen can impose Tk 25,000 penalty at a time and Tk 500 for next each days in case of failure or denial of providing the required information within the stipulated time without any valid reason.
According to 164 (CC), taxmen can also launch prosecution for jail or imposing financial penalty against the bank officials in case of not providing the information, the letter said.
The CIC requested the banks to consider the letter confidential and urgent for the sake of ensuring revenue collection for the country.
According to a probe committee report of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Dr Sobhan laundered a huge sum of money abroad and has accumulated illegal wealth by recruiting hundreds in the university.
The committee also recommended imposing travel ban on him, as he is also a citizen of Australia.
doulot_akter@yahoo.com