Staff Reporter:
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 17 people, including former Chairman of BASIC Bank Limited (Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce Bank Limited) Sheikh Abdul Hai Bachchu and former Managing Director (MD) Kazi Fakhrul Islam, on charges of embezzling Tk30 crore for giving loans to fake organization.
ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain on Monday confirmed the information to the media while talking in a press briefing held at the commission’s head office in the capital.
The anti-graft body during the investigation found that the bank had violated policy in providing the loan. Therefore, a case has been filed against the accused under Sections 409/109 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
The other accused in the case are BASIC bank Director Shuvashish Bose, Shyam Sundar Sikder, Nilufar Ahmed, Kamrun Nahar Ahmed, AKM Rezaur Rahman, AKM Kamrul Islam (FCA), Md Anwarul Islam (FCMA), Anis Ahmed, general manager and branch manager Shipar Ahmed, deputy general manager Omar Faruk, credit in-charge SM Zahid Hasan, proprietor of 4S Steel Md Masud Rana, the company’s secretary Md Shah Alam Bhuyan and general customer Kamal Hossain Selim and his wife Sahida Akhter Shimu.
According to the case statement, a company named ‘M/s 4S Steel’ opened an account in the Gulshan branch of BASIC Bank on 25 March in 2013 and applied for a loan of Tk50 crore within three days of opening the account.
The owner of the company promised to mortgage 18.15 kathas of land under various ‘Khatiyan’ and ‘Dag’ numbers of Badda Mouza as collateral.
Although the committee highlighted various negative aspects, on 28 April 2013, a proposal was made to not provide the loan, citing various flaws and objections in the loan proposal, but the Gulshan branch head Shipar Ahmed ignored them and sent the loan proposal to the head office on his own authority.
On 10 June, the then Managing Director of the bank, Kazi Fakhrul Islam, presented the loan proposal at the 323rd Board of Directors meeting. Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hai Bachchu and nine other directors were present in that meeting. They approved a loan of Tk30 crore, case statement added.
