ACC questions former BASIC Bank chairman Bachchu for seven hours

The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC has quizzed former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu for around seven hours on the second day of his interrogation over a Tk 35 billion loan fraud accusation.

Bachchu, a former Jatiya Party MP, seemed tense when he came out of the ACC offices in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha around 4:45pm on Wednesday.

He did not answer questions by the reporters who rushed to speak to him.

“What trouble has befallen me!” he was heard muttering as he was calling his chauffer over mobile phone.   

After the interrogation on the first day on Monday, he said he believed he was innocent.

On Wednesday, ACC directors AKM Zayed Hossain Khan and Syed Iqbal led the questioning that started at 10am.

An ACC official said the former BASIC Bank chief took biscuits and tea when the anti-graft watchdog offered him lunch. 

A doctor from the ACC Medical Centre checked him in the afternoon when he felt sick. The doctor said Bachchu had no health issues other than having a high blood pressure.

ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told bdnews24.com that Bchchu faced interrogation in 15 of the 56 cases filed over the loan scam.

Pranab added ACC might call him again for interrogation in the other cases.

The ACC began questioning people in connection with the loan fraud investigation on Oct 22.

Other BASIC Bank directors, including Md Anwarul Islam, Anis Ahmad, Quamrun Naher Ahmed, Prof Kazi Akhtar Hossain, Shakhawat Hossain, Fakhrul Islam, AKM Kamrul Islam, Jahangir Akhand Salim, Shyam Sunder Sikder and AKM Rezaur Rahman, have already been questioned.

The former board members are being questioned after several rounds of Supreme Court observations regarding corruption at the bank.

The ACC opened an investigation into the state-run bank after allegations surfaced that Tk 35 billion in loans had been illegally distributed from the Gulshan, Dilkusha and Shantinagar branches between 2009 and 2011.

BASIC Bank is accused of giving loans without collateral and using false documents and fictitious names and organisations in violation of the rules and regulations.

After nearly four years of investigation, the ACC filed 56 cases at three police stations in Dhaka, accusing 156 individuals, including 26 bank officials. The remaining ones are connected to lending institutions and bank oversight organisations.

But the absence of Bachchu and other prominent members of the board of directors on the list of suspects had prompted controversy.

The ACC claimed they had not found any evidence of Bachchu’s involvement.

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.

In February 2016, Finance Minister AMA Muhith claimed the investigation into BASIC Bank had found evidence of Bachchu’s roles in frauds tied to loans, appointment and promotion.

In August, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division expressed its anger that Bachchu and the board of directors had not been named suspects in loan frauds and money laundering.

The court warned the ACC not to ‘pick and choose’.

Facing criticism, an ACC director had told the media that Bachchu would be called in for questioning, even though he was not on the list of suspects.

Bachchu was appointed chairman of the bank in 2009. His appointment was renewed in 2012.

He resigned in 2014 amid pressure as the scandal began to surface.

The finance minister said Bachchu would not be let off the hook.