Former Proshika chairman Qazi Faruque Ahmed occupied the head office of the non-governmental organsiation on Sunday morning.
Three years after had been removed as chairman of the organisation, about 8:30am on Sunday he entered and took control of the head office at Mirpur 6 with the help of some employees and some outsiders.
Faruque’s associates also stopped other employees, who rallied for his removal in 2009, from entering the
office, witnesses said.
He, however, told reporters at the office that the staff had invited him to the office after they had realised that they could not run the organisation without Faruque.
‘A group of people took control of the office though a conspiracy. I won all the legal battles in this connection in 2011 although they did not allow me to enter office then,’ he said.
Asked why he did not go to the office after he had won the cases, he said, ‘Some senior director-level employees convinced the staff into stopping me from coming to the office. They have already closed 23 successful programmes and sold some landed property of the organisation.’
‘I have return to the office with permission of the administration and full support from the people of the organisation. Mahbubul Karim illegally occupied the organisation,’ he said
He also said that they had not stopped anyone from entering the office or drive out anyone from the office. He added that no employees would face any problems or be sacked now that he returned to the office.
An employee of the organisation, Kamruzzaman, told New Age that the chief executive officer Mahbubul Karim with directors Shirajul Islam, Kamrul Hossain Kamal, Shirajul Haque had illegally sold land of Proshika in other places of the country, closed projects related to fabrics and honey farming, reduced the number of employees from 12,000 to 3,000 and had not paid the employees salary for the past seven months.’
Mahbubul Karim told the media that Qazi Faruque had occupied the head office before any staff had reached the place in the morning and was claiming that the staff had invited him to run the office. ‘A few cases against Faruque are still pending with lower courts.’
Mahbubul also brushed aside the allegations of corruption levelled against him and said that they had saved the organisation that had been destroyed by Qazi Faruque.
The police took control of the Proshika head office on January 12, after driving out supporters of Faruque who had taken over the building forcibly despite a High Court order that allowed Faruque only to enter the building alone to meet the present chairman and the chief executive officer.
Mahbubul filed a writ petition seeking a High Court direction on the police to hand over the keys to him.
A clash took place in August 2011 when Faruque tried to enter the office with his people. People from both sides became injured in the clashed and both the sides filed cases against each other.
The board of directors removed Faruque as chairman in 2009 when the employees had rallied against him for using Proshika for individual and political gains. Mahbubul was made the chief executive officer after the matter had reached courts.