Ex-chairman Bachchu found involved in BASIC Bank loan scam, Muhith says

The Bangladesh Bank has found former BASIC Bank chairman Abdul Hye Bachchu's involvement with a loan scam, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said.

The central bank submitted an investigation report to the Anti-Corruption Commission. “He (Bachchu) has been accused in the report," the minister told reporters after an ACC programme on Wednesday.

Without revealing specific allegations against Bachchu, Muhith added, "Let's see what steps can be taken next."

Around Tk 45 billion was withdrawn as loans from the state-run bank's Dilkusha, Gulshan and Shantinagar branches between 2009 and 2012, when Bachchu was the chairman of the bank. 

The ACC prosecuted 26 officers of the bank and 130 others in 56 cases in September 2015 on charges of helping several businesses secure the loans through forgery.

Neither Bachchu nor any member of the bank's board of directors was named in the cases because, the ACC said, they were not found involved in the scam.   

The parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry was unhappy with the ACC findings and the central bank opened a separate investigation into the matter.  

Bangladesh Bank in May 2015 removed nine top BASIC Bank officials, after its audit detected irregularities in the loan disbursements.