A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against Hall-Mark Group Chairman Jasmine Islam and Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud in nine cases filed in connection with the Hall-Mark Sonali Bank loan scam.
Twenty-one others were also indicted in the cases filed by Anti-corruption commission (ACC) for the largest loan scam in the nation's history.
Rejecting the discharge petitions submitted by the accused, Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah of the Senior Special Judge's Court framed the charges and fixed April 21 for the beginning of the trials.
Jasmine, Tanvir and others accused pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after the charges were read to them.
On February 17, the same court framed charges against Jasmine and Tanvir in two other cases filed in connection with the scam.
The court also sent the case documents to the Dhaka Special judge Court-1 to start recording depositions of prosecution witnesses against the 23 accused in the 11 cases.
Jasmine and another accused are on bail while five others, including Tanvir, are now in jail. The rest are on the run.
Bangladesh Bank unearthed a loan scam involving Tk3,500 crore at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank in May 2012.
In connivance with some bank officials, the little known Hall-Mark Group borrowed Tk 2,686 crore from the bank using forged documents.
The Hall-Mark bosses used forged inland bills, meaning the group opened letters of credit for purchase and sold them to the bank which paid Hall-Mark without verifying and documentation.
The central bank later handed the issue over to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The ACC found that the branch gave Hall-Mark Tk1,568.49 crore in loans between October 2011 and May 2012.
In October, 2012, the ACC filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group in connection with misappropriating more than Tk 1,568 crore. Two of the accused have since passed away.
On August 4, 2013, Jasmine got bail after she pledged to pay back the amount in monthly installments of Tk100 crore. However, she did not pay any money and went to the High Court to appeal against the conditions of the bail.
The High Court canceled the conditions attached to her bail.