Staff Reporter: The American Bangladesh Friendship Society (ABFS) has failed miserably in its 35th conference of the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America (FOBANA), a traditional gathering of expatriate Bangladeshis in the United States. The 35th Fobana Conference has been defeated by two fraudsters in the Metro Washington DC area. As a result, the Fobana Conference lost its 34-year tradition.
The Fobana conference, which started on Friday, November 26, ended at midnight on Sunday with extreme mismanagement, irregularities, extreme negligence on the part of artists and patrons. Hundreds of viewers complained that no one in the history of the United States had seen such a bad phobia before.
5 lakh 46 thousand 889-square-foot auditorium at the Marriott Hotel, National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland, has about 10,000 seats. The opening ceremony, which began on Friday (November 26), was attended by more than 200 foreign spectators, except for the organizers and Fobana. Next day, on Saturday (November 27), more than 800 spectators were present during the performances of famous artists of the country, and on Sunday (November 28), at 11:45 pm, the audience was only more than 300 during the performances of popular artists of Dhaka. Never before in the history of the last 34 years has so many visitors been seen at a Fobana conference. For the past two years, however, GI Russell, the convener of the conference, and Shibbir Ahmed, the member secretary, have been campaigning on behalf of the American Bangladesh Friendship Society (ABFS). In the name of the 35th Fobana Conference, they have been accused of large-scale extortion in the name of patronage at home and abroad for the last two years. From the very beginning of the show, GI Russell and Shibbir Ahmed have been accused of disrespecting the artists, not paying their dues as per the agreement, hotel arrangements and cheating the sponsors in the name of reward. As a result of such behavior on Friday and Saturday, most of the guests left the hotel and returned home without enjoying the Sunday program. As a result, a limited number of spectators were seen on Sunday.
Many people think that they have pocketed most of the money collected. Not only that, at the 35th Fobana Conference this year, convener GI Russell, Member Secretary Shibbir Ahmed and Chairman of the Fobana Conference Zakaria Chowdhury traveled to Bangladesh several times to lobby for the import of manpower from Bangladesh. According to a reliable source, about 6/7 people have been able to bring manpower in the 35th Phobana this time in exchange of big numbers. Among them are 2 bank employees. Besides, it is known that 4/5 more people were brought as associate artists.
This year’s 35th Fobana Conference was held in a lower standard than the 33rd Fobana Conference, organized by the Drama Circle, a drama organization in New York, before the Corona epidemic began. In 2019, the 33rd Fobana was hosted by Drama Circle, a New York-based theater organization. To be the best of all, the organization chose the auditorium of the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island as the venue. For two days, that is, the second and third day, the organizers had to pay 3 lakh dollars or 2 crore 53 lakh 53 thousand Bangladeshi rupees. Due to the inexperience and poor publicity of the organization Drama Circle, the auditorium with a capacity of about 17,000 seats was attended by 800 to 1000 spectators on the second day.
In 2019, when everyone was busy uniting the successful and expatriate Bangladeshi organizations of the 33rd Fobana Conference, a vested interest group was busy handing over the next 35th Fobana Conference to this organized fraudsters. The Washington, D.C.-based fraudulent organization, which is centered around a trade organization called the American Bangladesh Business Association. Whose new name is Bangladesh American Friendship Society. The organization has previously organized the Fobana Conference twice in 2009 and 2011 in collaboration with a self-interested group, which is widely known as the Fobana Conference.
It is only natural that some selfish people and fraudsters should be active in an important conference like the Fobana Conference, but when the conference is in its infancy, nothing is left. The director or keynote speaker of the Bangladesh American Friendship Society said that there was no activity like allotment of stalls, advertisement pledges, business pledges, import of manpower on fake paper which GI Russell did not focus on the 2009 and 2011 conferences.
There are allegations that this fraudulent group has taken huge amount of money from the expatriate Bangladeshis only in the name of the conference and on various pretexts. Of which 10 thousand from expatriate Rezaul Karim, 12 thousand from Golam Farid Akter, 7 thousand from Rafiqul Islam, 15 thousand from Zakir Hossain, 23 thousand from Rasheduzzaman (Roman) in the name of business license, from Shamim Ali. 39 thousand and Mainul Islam has taken 7 thousand US dollars from Tapas.
By not even renting the venue after the Fobana conference, these fraudsters have slapped not only the Fobana conference but the entire Bangladeshi community in the face. He later filed a petition in federal court declaring himself bankrupt. Alexandria Federal Court rules him and his wife bankrupt.
GI Russell’s deception is not limited to the Fobana Conference, but his job is to deceive. Many of the victims have complained that sometimes he cheats by talking about business, sometimes by showing political power and sometimes by cheating in the name of social service or religion.
This fraudster has trapped various people at different times by talking about the business of Bangladeshis living in North America and promising to share in the business.
Among them, Naima Rahman has been accused of embezzling $26,000, People’s and Tech’s Abu Hanip of $ 18,000, Major Alam of $ 20,000 and Dr. Razzak of $ 80,000.
There are many more unnamed Bangladeshis on his cheating list. Despite being silent for fear of political influence, many later described the injustice and deception that happened to them.
The most tragic incident was. Razzak’s case. His wife said. It is known from Nazma Jahan, Dr. Razzak paid the swindler about $150,000 on several occasions for business reasons. Later, when he realized that he was in the grip of an organized fraud, he had no choice. Dr. Razzak suffered a severe mental breakdown and died of this mental illness.
This deception is so cunning that many cannot get out of its trap until it falls into its clutches. He is accused of embezzling $ 60,000 from the Alexandria Bangladeshi Community’s Mosque Development Fund, citing a grant from the Mosque Development Fund.
He is also pacifying many poor families in Bangladesh by promising to bring them to work in North America. Everyone who is actively involved with Fobana knows about the notoriety of this fraudster. But knowing all this, a selfish faction within Fobana has turned the Fobana Conference back into the hands of this fraudster only for their personal gain.
This fraudster has formed an organizing group with a few more pocket organizations like him to hide his bad reputation. And like the umbrella of a rootless frog, these organizations were never involved in social movements and social activities.
BP/SM
