ACC arrests Agrani Bank deputy MD after MD gets fired over loan irregularities

Hours after the sacking of Syed Abdul Hamid from Agrani Bank as managing director over loan irregularities, the Anti Corruption Commission has arrested the state-run bank’s Deputy Managing Director Mizanur Rahman Khan.

Deputy General Manager Md Akhtarul Alam and Assistant General Manager Md Shafiullah were also arrested along with Khan at the bank’s headquarters in Dhaka’s Motijheel on Thursday, an ACC spokesperson said.

ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said the three officials were arrested on charge of misappropriating Tk 1.08 billion.

He alleged they produced false accounts of income and expenditure relating to the building a complex on a piece of land at Kalyanpur to siphon off the money.

The ACC filed a case over the alleged fraud at the Motijheel Police Station.

Moon Group of Industries Chairman Mizanur Rahman took a loan for the complex, Mizan Tower, by claiming ownership of a litigated plot of land.

According to the ACC case, the accused worked together to make personal gains through cheating, misuse of powers, and criminal breach of trust.

“Through this, they damaged and embezzled the assets of the bank or state by approving a loan of Tk 1.08 billion for Mizanur Rahman, and gradually withdrawing and accepting Tk 948 million,” the case file says.

In January, Bangladesh Bank stripped Khan of his responsibilities over the Moon Group loan scam.

On Thursday morning, the central bank sacked Hamid as the Agrani Bank’s managing director after unearthing irregularities in the disbursement of loans amounting Tk 7.92 billion, including around Tk 3 billion to Moon Group.

Khan had become the acting managing director after Hamid’s firing but has now landed in jail.