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Published : 17 Sep 2025, 09:02 PM
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has brought charges of embezzling Tk 3.63 billion against 43 individuals, including S Alam Group Chairman Md Saiful Alam, Nabil Group Managing Director Md Aminul Islam, and former Islami Bank officials.
According to the anti-graft agency, Naba Agro Trade International, a fictitious company, was established to siphon off funds from Islami Bank under the guise of a trading business.
Aminul used his employees and relatives as fake partners to create the company with fraudulent intentions, ACC said.
On Jan 26, 2021, Naba Agro opened a general account at Islami Bank’s Gulshan branch, claiming to be involved in trading agricultural products, according to the ACC.
It says, despite no verification of their business credentials, Naba Agro was approved for a Tk 3 billion by-murabaha loan, offering Tk 300 million as collateral in the form of TDR. The loan was for the purchase and sale of agricultural products like wheat, soyabean oil, and palm oil.
The ACC says Islami Bank officials approved the loan without verifying any details about the company’s assets, business capital, warehouse, product ownership, or trading experience. The loan proposal was sent to the head office without proper investigation.
On Jan 23, 2022, the 37th meeting of Islami Bank’s investment wing recommended approving the loan. Despite negative information, the loan was approved during the executive committee meeting on the same day, and the approval letter was sent to the Gulshan branch on Feb 2, 2022.
Later, on Feb 13, 2022, Naba Agro applied for an additional Tk 3.7 billion loan under special conditions, which was approved without any recommendations. The funds were transferred to two companies -- Tk 2 billion to Sonali Traders and Tk 1.6 million to Century Food Products Ltd.
The graft busters say the Tk 3.63 million was used to pay off old loans of S Alam & Co at the National Bank, and that no evidence of actual product purchase or sales was found. Fraudulent invoices and documents were used to misappropriate the funds.
The list of suspects includes not only the bank’s current and former officials but also members of the bank's board of directors and executive committee.
The ACC said the approval of these loans was done through “abuse of power and criminal breach of trust”, resulting in the embezzlement of public funds.
