A Khulna court yesterday sent four Sonali Bank officers to jail in a money swindling case in Khulna.
The four officers of Sonali Bank Corporate Branch in Khulna are General Manager Nepal Chandra Saha (then deputy general manager of the branch), then the deputy general manager of the branch, Sameer Kumar Devnath, senior principal officer Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, and assistant officer Kazi Habibur Rahman.
Judge Md Shahidul Islam of Metropolitan Senior Special Court gave the jail order when they were in court seeking bail.
Another accused in the case, SM Emdadul Hossain, chairman of M/S Sonali Jute Mills Limited in Khulna, has been absconding since filing of the case.
According to PP advocate Khondokar Mojibur Rahman, the four bank officers, in collaboration with the chairman of the Jute Mill, borrowed close to Tk86 crore (Tk85,80,69,174 to be exact) in three phases supposedly as a loan to purchase raw jute and run production in 2017.
Instead, they embezzled all the money.
“The government counted losses of a total of Taka 126 crore, 82 lakh, 93 thousand, and 282 taka, including interest, before the ACC filed a case with Khanjahan Ali Police Station on July 2017,” he added, quoting the FIR.