The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday interrogated ten high officials of Arab Bangladesh (AB) Bank Limited in connection with the Ananda Shipyard loan scam worth nearly Tk1,300 crore.
ACC Senior Deputy Direcwtor Mir Jainul Abedin Shibly grilled the officials at the ACC headquarters in the capital.
On January 8, the anti-graft body sent summon notices to the 10
AB Bank officials for interrogating them on their alleged links in the disbursement of loans worth Tk186.90 crore without any security from the bank’s Karwan Bazar branch in favour of Ananda Shipyard, a competent source at the ACC told the Dhaka Tribune.
The ACC source also said that in the name of exporting ships the Ananda Shipyard has taken nearly Tk1,300 crore from 14 banks and financial institutions without depositing proper security in accordance to the bank rules, while the company also had no prior experience in exporting ships.
Following a Bangladesh Bank investigation, which revealed the irregularities in disbursing loans to Ananda Shipyard, the commission started looking into the allegations of loan scam in April this year.
The AB Bank officials who faced interrogation between 10am and 4pm yesterday were Deputy Managing Director Faruque M Ahmed, Senior Vice-Presidents Wasika Afrozi and Salma Akhter, Vice-President Shamim A Morshed, Executive Vice-President Akhter Hamid Khan, Assistant Vice-President Monjur Mofij of the bank’s head office; Executive Vice-President Chowdhury Monjur Liakot, Executive Vice-President Mahbubuzzaman, Senior Vice-President Kazi Ashraf Ali, Assistant Vice-President Al Mamun of Karwan Bazar branch of AB Bank.
