Transcom share transfer docs seized from RJSC prepared using fake stamps

Documents related to the share transfer of Transcom Group Limited, one of the country’s leading business groups, seized from the office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), were prepared using fake non-judicial stamps.

Two reports submitted to a Dhaka court by the Postal Department and the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner’s Office confirmed this.

In February last, Shahzreh Huq, the younger daughter of Transcom group’s founder Chairman Latifur Rahman, filed a case against her elder sister Simeen Rahman at Gulshan Police Station, alleging that Simeen forged her signature and fraudulently acquired most of Transcom’s shares.

The hearing on the application by PBI Sub-Inspector Sajedur Rahman, the investigation officer in the case, for a forensic test of the fake signature of Shahzreh Huq on the two non-judicial stamps used to transfer the shares, was held on Thursday.  However, Judge of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court Sharifur Rahman did not grant the application for the test.

Shahzreh Huq’s lawyer Aminul Haque told the FE that the documents seized by the investigation officer from RJSC show that Latifur Rahman’s wife Shahnaz Rahman submitted the share transfer documents in favour of Simeen Rahman to RJSC through her lawyer on September 2, 2020.

He added that the court later sought a report from the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner on the authenticity of the two stamps. The report stated that the vendor’s license was cancelled on December 13, 2020. And due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the vendor did not withdraw or submit any stamps to the registrar.

However, the DC office advised the court to obtain a report from the Assistant Controller (Stamps) of the Bangladesh Postal Department to find out when the stamps were released. Based on this, the report submitted to the court by the Assistant Controller (Stamps) of the Postal Department, Shuvro Sutra Dhar, on December 2, as per the court’s instructions, stated that the stamps were received by the Assistant Controller (Stamps) from The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Limited in May 2023.

Shahzreh Haque’s lawyer Aminul Haque said that the investigation officer of the case, Sajedur Rahman, had applied for a forensic test of the scanned signature of Shahzreh Huq used on the two stamps. But the court ruled that since the two stamps are fake, there is no need for a forensic test.

Simeen Rahman’s lawyer Mohmmad Siddiq Ullah Miah told the FE that the case alleges that a share transfer document was made using the stamps in 2020 and the postal department’s report shows that these two stamps were made in 2023. He argued that the charges brought against Simeen Rahman are baseless.

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