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 Bank’s 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 bank’s 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.