Widely perceived as the financial mastermind of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which actively opposed Bangladesh in the Liberation War of 1971, Mir Quasem Ali controlled the financial lifeline of his party. The Jamaat financier was also a founding member of Islami Bank Foundation that currently has numerous subsidiaries including Islami Bank Hospital, Islami Bank Medical College, Islami Bank Nursing Institute, Islami Bank Institute of Technology, Islami Bank Model School and College, Islami Bank Mahila Madrasa, Islami Bank Forkania Maktab and the Bangladesh Cultural Centre among other interests. As a member and representative of the Bangladesh Islamic Centre, Quasem Ali found himself on the Islami Bank board as a vice-chairman in 1983. Bangladesh Bank in 2007 found evidence of suspicious transactions by the NGO with several organisations with dubious activities. Quasem went into hiding after independence but returned to lead Jamaat’s rechristened student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir in 1977 following the coup d’etat of 1975.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 03, 2016 12:33 UTC