Scamster got scot-free 'due to backing'
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said that the government could not take punitive action against a top official of Sonali Bank for his involvement in Hallmark loan scam due to interference from “our own men”.
“A deputy managing director of Sonali Bank has been sent to jail in the Hallmark loan scam case. He [the deputy director] died in jail.
“Another deputy managing director was sent to jail. [But] a top official of Sonali Bank could not be sent to jail, because of the backing of our own people. I am very annoyed about this,” Muhith told parliament during the passage of the budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year yesterday.
Expressing concern over the Hallmark and Basic Bank loan scams, a few lawmakers said people's confidence in the financial sector dropped drastically due to such serious scams.
Admitting the matter, the minister said trust and confidence are considered the basic pillars of the banking industry.
Muhith, however, said nobody had the courage to punish a certain bank like the way Sonali Bank was punished.
Regarding the Basic Bank issue, the minister said a new board of directors had already been formed and the board was preparing an investigation report on the bank's loan crisis.
The government would take actions on the basis of the report, he said. “A few steps have already been taken so that the accused persons cannot flee the country.”
Yesterday, some lawmakers demanded that the list of defaulters be published. In response, Muhith said such a list had already been presented before parliament in 2010. “If you ask for it again, it will definitely be placed again.”
The Bangladesh Bank in May 2012 unearthed a loan scam of over Tk 3,600 crore in Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch. Of the sum, little known Hall-Mark Group alone took Tk 2,686 crore, using forged documents in connivance with some bank officials.
Later, the central bank handed the matter over to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for investigation. In October 2012, the anti-graft body filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group on charges of misappropriation of money.
The accused people in the charge sheet include Sonali Bank's former managing director Humayun Kabir, deputy managing directors Mainul Haque and Atiqur Rahman, general managers Nani Gopal Nath and Mir Mahidur Rahman.
Of them, DMD Atiqur died in jail. Mainul and Mir Mahidur are now in jail while Humayun and Nani Gopal are on the run.
BASIC Bank's woes started in 2009 when the government appointed Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu as its chairman.
Spearheaded by Bacchu, the bank indulged in all sorts of irregularities in giving out loans. The anomalies surfaced in 2012 after the central bank launched an investigation into the matter. Subsequently, the chief executive officer of the bank was removed and the board dissolved. More than Tk 4,000 crore had been swindled from this state-owned specialised bank.
Bacchu resigned from his post in July last year following allegations of financial irregularities.
Although the central bank's investigation report was sent to the ACC, the anti-graft body did not take any visible action against the accused.
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