The Anti-Corruption Commission and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) have initially unearthed anomalies amounting to around Tk 28 crore in implementing the Regulatory Information System (RIS) project.

The project director was Saifur Rahman, an executive director at the BSEC who was sent into forced retirement last week.

The project, taken to enhance the capacity of the capital market, was financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under its Third Capital Market Development Program (CMDP3).

It would enable companies to submit monthly, quarterly and annual reports as well as financial statements online. It would also enable market intermediaries to apply for registration online.

In a letter sent on February 26, BSEC informed the Ministry of Finance of its findings.

The BSEC said the project director informed all departments of the BSEC on March 20 last year through an internal office memo that the RIS project had been implemented.

But the project was actually completed in June of 2022.

Later, the commission's MIS Division requested several other departments of the BSEC to provide their opinion on the RIS. However, subsequent negative feedback cast doubt on project implementation, according to the letter.

Still, the project director submitted a project completion report (PCR) to the Finance Division of the BSEC on December 23 last year. Strangely, that report was missing the signature of the BSEC chairman.

The negative feedback that the MIS division received about the RIS and the signatureless PCR are both indications of corruption, the BSEC said in its letter.

As such, it demanded a proper investigation, requesting the formation of a probe committee.

ACC TESTS OUT RIS SOFTWARE

An enforcement team of the ACC visited the BSEC yesterday to investigate the RIS software system, according to a press release.

By taking statements from BSEC officials and physical inspection, it found that "although the project completion report was submitted to the ministry, the software has not been installed and transferred yet".

The ACC also brought allegations of anomalies involving Tk 28 crore.

The enforcement team will submit a report on its findings soon, it added.

Saifur Rahman's phone was found switched off and he did not reply text message.