The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday pressed charge sheets with a Dhaka Court in 11 cases against 25 people, including officials of the Hall-Mark Group and Sonali Bank, for their alleged involvement in a Tk15.7bn scam.
However, the charge sheets did not include the names of any politically connected bigwigs whose names had been often linked with the scam.
There were allegations that Syed Modasser Ali, one of the advisers to the prime minister who used to frequent the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank, could have used his position to influence the bank to give away the loans to Hall-Mark Group and its associates.
He even had to face questioning by a parliamentary body regarding the allegations, although both the parliamentary body and an ACC probe committee found him not guilty.
Despite allegations, none of the board members of the state-owned bank has been made accused in the cases either.
Hall-Mark Group Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud, his wife and group Chairman Jasmine Islam, General Manager Tushar Ahmed, Sonali Bank GM Mir Mohidur Rahman, DGMs Sheikh Altaf Hossain and Shafiz Uddin Ahmed, former managing director Humayun Kabir, and former manager of the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla branch AKM Azizur Rahman, along with 17 others, were made accused in the cases.
Seven of them are currently in police custody; Jasmine has been out on conditional bail. The remaining 17 have been absconding.
The charge sheets were placed before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ataul Haque under the penal code, the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 and the Corruption Prevention Act 1974.
The investigation officers have included a total of 80 prosecution witnesses in the 11 cases.
According to a Bangladesh Bank probe report released in May last year, Hall-Mark and five other companies, conniving with some Sonali Bank officials, took out Tk35.5bn as loans from the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch using forged documents.
Hall-Mark alone swindled around Tk26bn while its business entities swindled billions more.
Following an inquiry, the ACC filed 11 cases against seven top Hall-Mark executives and 20 Sonali Bank officials on October 4 last year for embezzling Tk15.7bn of funded and around Tk12.8bn non-funded money.
The Sonali Bank branch lent Tk36.06bn to the Hall-Mark Group, T and Brothers, Paragon Group, Nakshi Knit, DN Sports and Khanjahan Ali, violating banking rules.
On the basis of several petitions filed by the ACC, a Dhaka Court on June 26 ordered the freezing of all the 260 bank accounts of the various Hall-Mark businesses.
