BASIC Bank chairman will not be spared: Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said beleaguered BASIC Bank Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hai Bachchu will not get off the hook if he is found involved with irregularities.

Bachchu, who headed the board of the state-owned specalised bank, rendered his resignation on Friday.

The finance minister, however, said they will constitute a new board by Sunday.

According to him, a ‘renowned’ banker will take the helm of the bank, hit by gross irregularities involving loan disbursements of Tk 40 billion.

Muhith, however, did not spell out names of any possible candidates.

BASIC Bank’s Managing Director Kazi Faqurul Islam was removed on May 25 after allegations of loan irregularities surfaced in three branches.

Muhith had then said the board would be revamped immediately.

Bangladesh Bank on May 29 recommended to the finance minister the dissolution of the board.

On Friday, Bachchu submitted his resignation to the finance minister at his Minto Road residence.

“A probe has been opened into the irregularities of BASIC Bank. The Anti Corruption Commission and the central bank are holding separate inquiries,” the finance minister told bdnews24.com on Saturday.

He said that Bachchu will not be spared if he was found guilty.

“Many might think that he will get off the hook by resigning, which is not true at all.

“Not only the Chairman, measures will be taken against other members of the board, if found guilty,” said Muhith.

Bachchu was appointed to head the bank’s Board for three years in Sep 2009. His contract was renewed in Sep, 2012.

Media reports revealed that the Board of Directors had violated Bangladesh Bank’s directives and appointed and promoted unqualified people.

A Bangladesh Bank probe found that the bank had even violated its own recruitment rules.

The central bank also found loan frauds worth Tk 40 billion upon inspection at BASIC Bank’s Gulshan, Shantinagar and Dilkusha branches.

“His resignation has been accepted. A new board for the BASIC Bank, headed by a renowned banker, will be constituted tomorrow (Sunday),” Muhith said on Saturday.

There are three government-appointed members on the seven member BASIC Bank board of directors.

They are Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office Neelufar Ahmed, Additional Secretary to the finance ministry’s Bank and Financial Institutions Division Quamrun Naher Ahmed and Export Promotion Bureau Vice Chairman Shubhashish Bose.

The other three members are Shyam Sunder Sikder, the chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, Anwarul Islam, the managing director of ARS Lube Bangladesh and Anis Ahamad, an assistant editor at Uttaran newspaper.

Asked whether the government-appointed directors of the bank would face any action, Muhith said, “They will face action if we find any evidence of wrongdoing.”

After the Hall-Mark scam at the state-owned Sonali Bank, BASIC Bank’s loan fraud has been another source of embarrassment for the government.

Many quarters are blaming political appointments to the bank boards for these problems.

Muhith, however, justified the stance.

“If we don’t make political appointments to the state-owned bank’s Boards, the bank won’t be humane,” he said.

“We have a lot of evidence that politically appointed boards perform well. But it’s true that we’ve made some mistakes, and we’ve paid the price for them,” he added.

The minister said the boards of other state-owned banks would also be reformed.