Bangladesh one of the largest media conglomerate East-West Media Group sister concern of Bashundhara Group has withheld the salaries of 183 journalists from its three media outlets—Daily Kaler Kantho, Daily Sun, and the online portal BanglaNews24.com—for the past ten months.

Many of these journalists, left without employment, are now facing severe hardship, with some struggling to afford basic living expenses, medical treatment, and their children’s education. Despite repeated attempts, they have not received their rightful dues from Bashundhara Group.

Without any prior notice, all 183 journalists were laid off from these three outlets on October 1, 2023. Some of these journalists had been associated with these organizations since their inception. During the layoffs, representatives of the management assured them that their dues would be settled promptly following the wage board guidelines. However, following the layoffs, the owners delayed payment of the outstanding dues.
In response to the journalists’ demands, three months later, Bashundhara Group unilaterally calculated their dues without adhering to the wage board’s rules and divided the total into ten installments. They provided each affected journalist with ten postdated checks, starting from January 2024.

However, when the checks were deposited according to the specified dates, they bounced due to insufficient funds in the accounts. The checks for March, April, May, June, July and August have already been dishonored, as confirmed by the affected journalists to Bangladesh Media Monitor.

The affected journalists shared their frustrations, saying, “We even tried to stage a protest in front of Bashundhara City but were blocked by security. After organizing several protests in front of the Press Club, we only managed to cash checks for two months (January and February).”

Media Advisor of the Group, Mr. Abu Tayeb said, “I have not been closely associated with the media for a long time, but I have spoken to the chairman. The layoffs were mainly orchestrated by Imdadul Haq and Rezaul Karim Lotus. In some cases, even Alamgir Hossain, the editor of BanglaNews, was involved.”

He acknowledged the issue stating, “Due to the ongoing economic crisis, Bashundhara Group’s companies have been incurring losses, which has caused problems with the second installment of the salaries. However, we are trying to resolve the matter. I have spoken with the chairman and we are making every effort to disburse the next installment of salaries as soon as possible.”

Money laundering allegations against ‘Bashundhara Group’

Bangladesh criminal investigation department is going to investigate money laundering allegations against the country’s one of the biggest media conglomerate East west media group’s and the sister concern Bashundhara Group’s Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir and others, Additional Superintendent of CID media wing Azad Rahman confirmed on Thursday, 5 September.

Azad Rahman said, the CID has decided to investigate the allegations of embezzlement, laundering of thousands of crores of taka through fraud, forgery, duty evasion, VAT evasion, under-invoicing/over-invoicing against various organizations related to Bashundhara Group.

According to various sources, Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and Sayem Sobhan Anvir were involved in laundering money to Dubai, Singapore, Cyprus, London, Malaysia and other countries.

Bashundhara Group had allegedly bought land at Tk 20-25 lakh per bigha by adopting fraudulence. It borrowed more than TK 42,000 crore from bank showing the price of per katha land at Tk 3 crore.

There are also allegations against Bashundhara Oil & Gas (Keraniganj, Dhaka) of importing around Tk 2,000 crore worth of bitumen through trade-based money laundering, subsequently monopolising the market by manipulating prices with a powerful syndicate, the CID said.
“Sayem Sobhan Anvir, MD of East West Media and Bashundhara Groups is reported to be a key figure in a gold smuggling syndicate. Information has emerged that this syndicate creates artificial shortages, often destabilising the country’s gold market,” added the CID.

Although some part of the land of Bashundhara Residential Project has the approval of RAJUK, most of the projects were implemented without RAJUK’s approval by filling government properties canals, beels, rivers, khas lands, graveyards, etc.

Besides, there are allegations of grabbing a huge amount of land by East West Properties Limited in different blocks of Bashundhara Residential Area, which is estimated to be worth more than Tk 1.5 lakh crore.