The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against two people, including former United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) Managing Director M Shahjahan Bhuiyan, on charges of embezzling Tk109 crore.
ACC Assistant Director Abul Kalam Azad filed the case against Shahjahan Bhuiyan and Samir Proshad Dutta, proprietors of MS Dutta Traders, with its integrated district office in Bogura recently.
According to the case statement, Samir Proshad Dutta applied to the Bogura branch of the UCBL on February 1, 2010, for taking over a loan of Ms Dutta Traders in Bogura.
Later, the bank approved Tk49 crore takeover loans in favour of Dutta Traders within seven days without proper verification of any records of the loan.
The wealth worth only Tk9.52 crore was accepted as subsidiary collateral against approval of the Tk49 crore loans, according to the case statement.
Later, Samir applied to the bank to increase the loan limit from Tk49 crore to Tk58 crore by keeping an equivalent amount of Tk13 crore as subsidiary collateral.
Following the instruction of Shahjahan Bhuiyan, the loan limit was increased to Tk58 crore which was violation of the rules and regulations of the bank.
Within six months, when the borrower failed to repay the loan, the bank was given the illegal benefit of allowing loan interest waivers several times, according to the case.
In this way, the accused embezzled Tk109 crore, including interests from the UCBL, during the period from February 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014.
They have been charged under Section 409/420/109 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.