Nearly 12 years after the Hallmark Group’s Tk4,000-crore loan scam surfaced in the media, a Dhaka court on Tuesday sentenced its Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud and his wife Jasmine Islam, the company's chairman, and seven others, including officials of Sonali Bank to life imprisonment in one of the cases.
Additionally, the court ordered Tanvir and Jasmine to pay a fine of Tk5 crore each. In the same case, under another fraud charge, they were also sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Tk25 lakh each.
Judge Md Abul Kashem of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-1 announced the verdict in presence of the top accused.
The court sentenced other accused to various jail terms. However, eight of the convicts, including the bank’s former MD and mastermind of the scam Humayun Kabir, are absconding.
After the scam came to light in 2012, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed 40 separate cases after an investigation. Among them, 38 were funded cases and two non-funded cases.
In this case filed with Ramna police station, a loan of around Tk526 crore was disbursed in the name of a non-existent Max Spinning Mills and Tk10.5 crore was misappropriated, according to the charge sheet.
Before announcing the verdict, the judge said culprits who consider deposits, banking system and economy to be a plaything should be given capital punishment.
However, since the maximum penalty under the law is life imprisonment, those directly involved received life in jail.
The convicts
The seven other life-term convicts are Hallmark Group General Manager and Tanvir’s brother-in-law Tushar Ahmed, Assistant Deputy General Manager Md Saiful Hasan, Executive Officer Abdul Matin, Max Spinning Mills owner Mir Zakaria, Paragon Group MD Saiful Islam Raja, Nakshi Knit MD Abdul Malek and Director of T and Brothers Taslim Hasan.
Apart from the life sentence, they were fined Tk10 lakh each. In another charge, each of them was sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Tk2 lakh each.
On the other hand, seven current and former officials of Sonali Bank got 17 years in jail and fined Tk12 lakh each. They are former MD Humayun Kabir, Head Office GM Nani Gopal Nath, former GM of Sonali Bank Head Office Mir Mohidur Rahman, DGM Md Safiuddin Ahmed, DMD Mainul Haque (currently OSD), AGM Md Kamrul Hossain Khan (suspended) and Senior Executive Officer of Sonali Bank Dhanmondi Branch Meherunnesa Mary.
Md Jamal Uddin Sarkar, the former chairman of Tetuljhora Union Parishad of Hemayetpur in Savar, appeared in court to hear the verdict in the morning. He received a seven-year prison sentence and a fine of Tk7 lakh on two separate charges. Upon hearing the sentencing, he fled the courtroom unnoticed.
Legal procedure
Earlier, following the arguments presented on January 28, the court scheduled the verdict for February 28. However, on that day, the court postponed the verdict announcement and instead decided to gather testimonies.
After hearing the testimonies, the court set March 12 for the presentation of arguments. Subsequently, on that date, after arguments were presented by both the state and the defendants, the court scheduled on Tuesday for the verdict announcement.
In the case, the court accepted the testimony of 57 out of 81 witnesses in the charge sheet.
On March 27, 2016, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka framed charges against the defendants and ordered the transfer of the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-1.
How it unfolded
According to an investigation of Bangladesh Bank, Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch lent the Hallmark Group and five other companies Tk3,547 crore between 2010 and 2012 on the basis of fake documents. Of the amount, the Hallmark Group alone swindled Tk2,686.14 crore.
The company withdrew more money from various branches of 40 domestic and foreign banks. Of this, only Tk567.47 crore was recovered after the fraud was first reported in 2012.
Till then, it was the country’s largest financial scam. Police arrested Group MD Tanvir Mahmud on October 8, 2012. Police also arrested his wife and top officials of the company and the bank, but the swindled money could not be recovered.
Jasmine Islam got bail in August 2013 on the condition of paying Tk100 crore per month. After she failed to comply with the order, the court cancelled her bail on July 14, 2019, and sent her back to prison.
On July 11, 2018, Jasmine Islam was sentenced to three years imprisonment in a case filed by the ACC for not submitting her wealth statement. She was also fined Tk20 lakh.
