The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a case against Jasmine Islam, chairman of the Hall-Mark Group for non-submission of her wealth statement within due time.
The anti-graft body also took statements from six Sonali Bank officials as witnesses in the Tk372 crore loan embezzlement case involving the Hall-Mark Group.
The ACC on November 13 sent a notice to Jasmine Islam asking her to submit a wealth statement, including all her properties and sources of income, within seven working days.
Later on November 24, her lawyer requested more time for submitting the wealth statement. The commission extended the deadline by seven more days, which expired on December 4, according to the case statement.
“Since the Hall-Mark Group chairman has not submitted her wealth statement till date, the commission has filed a case with Ramna Model Police Station for non-submission of the statement within due time under section 26 (2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004,” ACC deputy director Mir Md Zainul Abedin Shebly told the Dhaka Tribune.
Jasmine was released on bail on August 4 on the condition that she would pay back Tk100 crore to Sonali Bank every month.
Meanwhile, a seven-member probe team, led by Zainul Abedin Shebly, questioned six Sonali Bank officials as witnesses at the ACC headquarters in the capital yesterday.
The witnesses included the bank’s general manager M Mustafizur Rahman, branch inspector M Rafiqul Islam Khan, deputy general manager MHS Abu Zafar, senior executive officer M Anisuzzaman, executive officer ASM Abdul Latif, and deputy general manager of Comilla corporate branch M Shawkat Ali.
Violating Bangladesh Bank rules, some Sonali Bank officials and five business entities of the Hall-Mark Group embezzled Tk372 crore taken as loans between October 2011 and May 2012 from the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla (formerly Hotel Sheraton) branch.
The five companies are _ T & Brothers Ltd, Paragon Knit Composite Ltd, Nakshi Knit Composite Ltd, Khan Jahan Ali Sweaters Ltd and DN Sports Limited.
In January this year, the anti-corruption watchdog filed as many as 26 cases against 18 senior executives of the five companies and 17 officials of Sonali Bank for their alleged involvement in misappropriating the state-owned bank’s money.
On the basis of several petitions filed by the ACC, a Dhaka court on June 26 ordered the freezing of all 260 bank accounts of the various Hall-Mark businesses.
On October 7, the ACC submitted charge-sheets in 11 cases against 25 people _ including officials of the Hall-Mark Group and Sonali Bank _ for their involvement in the scam.