ACC Sues Former BTRC Chiefs over Tk 9,000cr Loss from Illegal Call Rate Cuts
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against six senior officials of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), including three former chairmen, for allegedly causing a loss of Tk 9,000 crore to the state by unlawfully reducing international incoming call termination rates and revenue-sharing ratios.
The accused former BTRC chairmen are Sunil Kanti Bose, Dr Shahjahan Mahmood, and Md Jahurul Haque. The other accused are former Vice-Chairman Brigadier General (Retd.) Md Ahsan Habib Khan and former Commissioners Md Rezaul Kader and Md Aminul Hasan.
The case was filed on Wednesday, 3 December, at the ACC’s Dhaka Integrated District Office by ACC Director Jalal Uddin Ahmed. ACC Deputy Director and Public Relations Officer Akhtarul Islam confirmed the filing of the case at the Dhaka-1 Integrated District Office.
According to the case statement, the accused unlawfully altered call termination rates and revenue-sharing formulas to provide “financial benefits” to IGW (International Gateway) operators, resulting in massive financial losses for the state.
The case details show that between October 2015 and January 2018, BTRC authorities—without government approval—reduced the test-phase call rate from USD 0.03 to USD 0.015 per minute and lowered the government’s revenue share from 51.75 percent to 40 percent. Simultaneously, the IGW operators’ share was raised from 13.25 percent to 20 percent—changes deemed entirely illegal.
These actions caused losses of Tk 383.73 crore from reduced revenue share, Tk 2,941.99 crore from the lower call rate, and Tk 5,685.01 crore from non-repatriated foreign currency—totaling Tk 9,010.74 crore. The case has been filed under Penal Code Sections 409 and 418, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, and Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012.
Separate investigations are ongoing against former Commissioner Md Jahurul Haque over allegations of illegal wealth accumulation and abuse of power. Jahurul joined the ACC as Commissioner on 10 March 2021 and resigned on 30 October 2024, on the same day former ACC Chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah and Commissioner Asia Khatun also stepped down.
Among the three former chairmen accused—who served under the recently ousted Awami League government—Jahurul Haque previously served as both BTRC Commissioner and Chairman before joining the ACC. Dr Shahjahan Mahmood served as Chairman of Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited, while Sunil Kanti Bose signed the purchase agreement for the Bangladesh-1 satellite (formerly Bangabandhu-1) and was among 307 former bureaucrats who publicly pledged support for the Awami League ahead of the 2018 national election.
This is the first time in the ACC’s history that a corruption case has been filed against an official at the rank of Commissioner. Jahurul served both as BTRC Commissioner and later as Chairman during the period under investigation.
DBTech/DP/EK/OR
