The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday grilled seven high officials of Mercantile Bank in connection with an inquiry over a Tk1,300 crore loan scam of Ananda Shipyard from 14 banks and financial institutions.
Senior Deputy Director Mir Jainul Abedin Shibly interrogated the officials at the ACC headquarters in the capital from 10:30am to 1pm.
The officials are Assistant Vice-President Asish Kumer Laskor, Executive Vice-President Shoeb Ahmed, Senior Vice-President Faisal Ahsan Chowdhury, First Vice-President KM Anwarul Islam, Senior Executive Vice-President Mohammed Ismail of head office, Manager Mahmud Alam Chowdhury and Principal Officer Maruf Uddin Kamal of the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh branch.
The ACC earlier quizzed 26 officials of Islami Bank, from where the ship builder had loaned Tk456.34 crore.
Ananda Shipyard secured Tk1,300 crore loan from 14 banks and financial institutions between 2010 and 2013 without depositing proper security money in line with the bank rules in the name of exporting ships, the allegations say. It also did not experience ship exporting during that time.
The ACC launched the inquiry in April this year after a Bangladesh Bank investigation had found irregularities in disbursing loans to Ananda Shipyard.
The central bank report says Ananda Shipyard took Tk221.2 crore from Mercantile Bank, about Tk187 crore from AB Bank Limited, Tk114.21 crore from One Bank, Tk238 crore from Janata Bank, Tk24 crore from Bangladesh Development Bank and Tk15.14 crore from the NCC Bank.
Bangladesh Bank in early November appointed an observer to Mercantile Bank in the backdrop of loan irregularities allegedly committed by its board of directors. The board had earlier provided loan worth Tk250 crore to Sanmar group violating loan formalities. It also approved loan of Tk300 crore to Jamuna group violating single borrower exposure limit. The central bank also found that a former chairman of the bank had embezzled Tk2 crore from the bank’s CSR fund.
Observers were appointed to five more banks – state-run BASIC Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, National Bank and Islami Bank – for various reasons.
