TBT DESK: The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has imposed lifetime bans on Salman F Rahman, former chairman of IFIC Bank PLC and vice-chairman of Beximco Group, former BSEC chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, and Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman, former IFIC Bank vice-chairman and Salman's son, for their involvement in the IFIC Amar Bond scam.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the BSEC also fined Salman Tk100 crore and Shayan Tk50 crore for deceiving investors through the IFIC Guaranteed Sreepur Township Green Zero Coupon Bond, also known as "IFIC Amar Bond".

The decision was made at the commission’s 965th meeting, chaired by current BSEC Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood.

The commission stated that although IFIC Bank was only the guarantor of the bond, it was marketed using the bank’s name, creating the false impression that it was the issuer. The bond issuer, Sreepur Township Ltd, a real estate firm incorporated just months earlier, withdrew Tk248 crore in cash within four days of raising funds.

Former BSEC chairman Shibli Rubayat faced action not only for his involvement in the Amar Bond case but also for procedural violations tied to the Beximco Green Sukuk. Former BSEC commissioner Sheikh Shamsuddin Ahmed was banned from capital market activities for five years.

Imran Ahmed, former CEO of IFIC Investments Ltd, was banned for five years, while credit rating agency Emerging Credit Rating Ltd (ECRL), which rated the Amar Bond, was fined Tk10 lakh.

The BSEC also warned several former IFIC Bank directors, including ARM Nazmus Sakib, Md Golam Mostofa, Md Zafar Iqbal, Quamrun Naher Ahmed, and Shudhangshu Shekhar Biswas. Enforcement actions were also taken against Shah Alam Sarwar, then managing director of IFIC Bank.

Salman, who had been accused of stock market manipulation following the 2010 crash, was arrested in August last year while allegedly attempting to flee the country by river. He has since been held in jail and questioned in several cases.

His son Shayan is believed to have left the country and remains untraceable.

Shibli Rubayat was arrested in February in a money laundering case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission. He allegedly took bribes by falsifying a house rental agreement and was also accused of facilitating illegal exports. A travel ban was later imposed on him, and a court ordered the seizure of a 10-storey commercial building he owns in Savar.