Linde Bangladesh indicted for fraud
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka framed charges on Wednesday against multinational company Linde Bangladesh Limited for fraud.
The fraud case was initially filed in September 2022 by Connect Distribution Limited, the sole distributor of Linde Bangladesh.
According to the lawsuit, aside from the official distribution contract with Connect Distribution Limited, Linde Bangladesh had hired them as a vendor as well to transport empty Linde gas cylinders from across the country to Linde’s factory.
From January 2019 to February 2022, Connect Distribution carried out this work and regularly submitted bills for the services rendered, but Linde failed to make any payments.
The lawsuit named six individuals as defendants, including Linde Bangladesh Managing Director Sujeet Pai, Advisor to the Managing Director Erfan Shihabul Matin, and Associate Director Chowdhury Nurur Rahman.
Sujeet Pai is currently absconding, while the other five are out on bail.
After the case was filed, Linde obtained a stay order from the High Court to halt the proceedings. However, following a year of hearings, the High Court dismissed the stay order in October 2023, allowing the case to resume in the lower court.
As a result, the Dhaka CMM court, after hearing from both sides, ordered the framing of fraud charges against Linde Bangladesh yesterday.
Before Bangladesh’s independence, Linde Bangladesh Limited operated under the name BOC or Bangladesh Oxygen Limited.
Over the past three years, the company’s business has steadily declined, as evidenced by their annual audit reports. In response, Linde Bangladesh recently decided to exit the welding rod business in Bangladesh and sell it to American company ESAB.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Stock Exchange reports that despite three years of continuous business decline, Linde announced a staggering 1,540% dividend this June, an unprecedented figure in Linde’s history.
In the past, when business was booming, the highest dividend Linde declared ranged from 400% to 500%. This month’s announcement means shareholders will receive approximately Tk154 per share.
