SS Power Limited, a subsidiary of S Alam Group, reportedly laundered $815.78 million (around Tk 10,000 crore) from Bangladesh between 2019 and 2023 using two Letters of Credit (LCs) to import machinery for its 1320MW coal-based power plant in Chattogram. Despite the LCs being opened at state-run Rupali Bank, no actual imports occurred; instead, the funds were transferred based on fake invoices, many of which were invalid or related to unrelated imports.
The investigation revealed that 184 fraudulent invoices were uploaded to the Bangladesh Bank server, leading to the transfer of funds to SS Power’s Chinese partner, SEPCO. The Chattogram Customs House Commissioner confirmed that there were no records of imports against these LCs. The involvement of Rupali Bank was crucial, as they provided the necessary documentation for the transactions despite the absence of genuine import data. A senior official indicated that such actions would require collusion from top bank officials, raising serious concerns about oversight and regulatory failures in monitoring financial transactions.
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