You are on page 1of 3

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday filed 12 cases against 53 officials of five

banks and the Bismillah Group, a terry towel producer, for their alleged involvement in the
embezzlement of funded loans worth over Tk9.9bn.

The commission filed the cases with Motijheel, New Market and Ramna police stations under
section 4(2) and (3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012, ACC Deputy Director and
probe team head Syed Iqbal Hossain told reporters at a briefing.

The list of the accused included 13 people from Bismillah Group, 12 Janata Bank officials, eight
Prime Bank officials, seven Premier Bank officials, five Jamuna Bank officials and eight
Shahjalal Islami Bank officials.

The Bismillah group, with the help of the bank officials, allegedly embezzled around Tk5.27bn
from Janata Bank, over Tk3.26bn from Prime Bank, Tk1.54bn from Jamuna Bank, Tk1.04bn
from Shahjalal Islami Bank and Tk625.3m from Premier Bank in three years.

Although the ACC reportedly took statements from Jamil Hossain Durjoy, son of Gazipur
lawmaker Rahmat Ali, and Comilla lawmaker Mohammad Shubid Ali Bhuiyans son
Mohammad Ali, their names were excluded from the list of the accused as the commission said
necessary documents of their involvement were not found during the inquiry.

The two men had taken allowances from Bismillah Group, but not on a regular basis. They were
paid directors, not shareholders. We have scrutinised documents from Bismillah Group authority
and Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, but no evidence of their directorship was found during
our inquiry, nor in the documents, Hossain told reporters.

According to the probe report, Bismillah Group, in association with the bank officials,
embezzled the money through loans against trust receipts using names of fake foreign buyers.
They secured cash incentives against fake export documents, taking advantage of inland bills
purchases and overpricing non-existing export items.

The inquiry also found that the group laundered money abroad. The group allegedly embezzled a
total of around Tk12bn, but the commission, after its eight-month inquiry, submitted a report on
Tk9.9bn funded loan embezzlement.

The accused from the Bismillah Group are: Bismillah Towels Managing Director Khaza
Solaiman Anwar Chowdhury; his wife and Chairman Nowrin Hasib; Directors Shafiqul Anwar
Chowdhury, Sarwar Jahan, Abida Hasib, Nahid Anwar Khan and Khandker Moinuddin Ashraf;
General Manager (commercial) Abul Hossain Chowdhury; Deputy General Manager and
authorized signatory Akbar Aziz Muttaki; and Manager (commercial) Riaz Uddin Ahmed.

Among the accused, the graft-busting agency had taken statements from only Akbar Aziz
Muttaki, since none of the other accused responded to the commissions notices, ACC Deputy
Director Hossain told reporters.
The other accused are Network Freight System Limited Chairman M Akhter Hossain, TW
Express proprietor M Moin Uddin, and Bay Yarn Limited owner Golam Mohiuddin Ahmed.

ACC sources said the MD of Bismillah Group was the mastermind behind the misappropriation.

In primary probe, the ACC found that Chowdhury, the managing director; his wife, father and
mother were currently living in Dubai. Senior Manager Abul Hossain Chowdhury and another
top official Riaz Uddin were in Malaysia and London respectively.

Others accused in the cases

The 12 people accused from Janata Bank included its Janata Bank Bhaban corporate branch
General Manager Abdus Salam Azad, and Deputy General Managers Ajmal Haque and SM Abu
Hena Mostafa Kamal, Moghbazar branch former manager Rafiqul Alam.

The eight people accused from Prime Bank include Vice President Ibrahim Hossain Gazi and
former manager Khandker Iqbal Hossain.

Premier Bank former deputy manager GM Shahadat Hossain and former Motijheel Branch
manager Shahinur Rahman are among the seven accused from the bank.

Jamuna Banks Dilkusha Branch Senior Assistant Vice President Morshedur Rahman and SM
Zahidul Islam are among the five accused from thebank.

Shahjalal Islami Bank Eskaton branch Manager Aslamul Haque, former deputy manager ASM
Hasanul Kabir, former executive vice president M Golam Wahab are among the list of accused
from the bank.

- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/law-amp-rights/2013/nov/04/tk99bn-scam-


bismillah-group#sthash.syJUDHEu.dpuf
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), on Sunday, interrogated four bank officials including
two managing directors of leading private banks for their alleged involvement in the
embezzlement of approximately Tk11.1bn from five banks, by the Bismillah Group.

A five -member probe committee, headed by ACC Deputy Director Syed Iqbal Hossain, quizzed
the officials at the ACC headquarters.

The officials, who were questioned, are Mercantile Bank Managing Director Ehsanul Haque
(former Prime Bank deputy managing director) and Bank Asia Managing Director M Mahmud
Hossain (former senior executive vice-president of Prime Bank), and Prime Bank former deputy
managing directors Nasir Uddin Ahmed and Mahbubul Alam.

However, BRAC Bank Managing Director Syed Mahbubur Rahman (former Prime Bank deputy
managing director), Assistant Managing Director of Premier Bank Reazul Karim (former Prime
Bank deputy managing director) and Al-Arafah Islami Bank Deputy Managing Director Golam
Rabbani (former senior assistant vice-president of Prime Bank) did not appear before the
commission for interrogation.

Syed Iqbal told the Dhaka Tribune that BRAC Banks Mahbubur Rahman and Reazul Karim of
Premier Bank were absent yesterday as they claimed they did not get the ACC notice. These two
officials will be interrogated today.

Al-Arafah banks Golam Rabbani did not attend the questioning since he was out of the country,
the probe body chief said.

Bismillah Group allegedly embezzled around Tk3.93bn from Janata Bank, Tk3.06b from Prime
Bank, Tk1.64bn from Jamuna Bank, Tk1.49bn from Shahjalal Islami Bank and Tk630m from
Premier Bank in the last three years.

An inspection by the Bangladesh Bank last year first detected the fraud by the Bismillah Towels
Ltd, Hindul Wali Textile Ltd and Alpha Composite Towels Ltd all concerns of the Bismillah
Group-conducted from 2010 to 2012.

Irregularities included securing cash incentives against fake export documents, taking undue
advantage of inland bills purchases and overpricing non-existing export items.

Earlier this year, the ACC formed a five-member strong probe team on February 26 to look into
the alleged embezzlement.

- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/26/four-bank-officials-


quizzed-over-bismillah-loan-scam#sthash.9j3uxTzz.dpuf

You might also like