ACC quizzes 5 more AB Bank officials

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has interrogated five more AB Bank officials on money laundering allegation. ACC Assistant Director (Public Relations) Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told UNB that ACC interrogated them from Tuesday morning. On December 26, a notice issued by ACC summoned the five officials -- Mohammad Mahfuz Ul Islam, head of corporate treasury, Mohammad Lokman, head of Offshore Banking Unit, Arif Neaz, OBU at EPZ branch, Mahadeb Sarkar Sumon, company secretary, and MN Azim, who works in financial institutions and treasury section. ACC Director Syed Iqbal Hossain and Assistant Director Gulshan Anwar are investigating the allegation and interrogating the accused. On Monday, ACC summoned six more members of the AB Bank's Board of Directors for interrogation on January 7. The directors of AB Bank are - Shishir Ranjan Bose, Mejbahul Haque, Fahimul Haque, Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin, Runa Zakia and Md. Anwar Jamil Siddiqui while one of the clients of bank trader Saiful Haque is also summoned for questioning on Jan 4. Earlier on December 28, the bank's former chairman M Wahidul Haque and former managing director M Fazlur Rahman were interrogated. On December 31, the bank's former Managing Director Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury and the chief of the bank's Financial Institutions and Treasury branch Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal were also interrogated by ACC. Wahidul Haque, along with AB Bank's vice chairman and a director, resigned from the bank's board of directors on December 21 when the bank faces criticism over its alleged laundering of around Tk165 crore to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through two shady organisations in the name of investment. Meanwhile, the ACC imposed a ban on the travel of 12 senior officials of the bank.