HC orders ACC to investigate assets of former BASIC Bank high-ups

The High Court has ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC to open an inquiry into the assets of former managing director of BASIC Bank Kazi Fakhrul Islam and former deputy managing director Fazlus Sobhan.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 10 Jan 2018, 02:35 PM
Updated : 10 Jan 2018, 02:35 PM

Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim passed the order on Wednesday and granted bail to Fazlus Sobhan in four loan scam cases.  

In May 2014, Bangladesh Bank removed nine top BASIC Bank officials, including Kazi Fakhrul Islam, after audit detected irregularities in loan disbursement from three of the bank’s branches in Dhaka. Fazlus Sobhan was made the acting managing director.

The misappropriation amounting to Tk 40 billion was done over a period of five years.

In September 2015, the anti-graft watchdog started 56 cases with Motijheel, Paltan, and Gulshan police accusing 156 people--26 staffers of BASIC Bank and 130 employees of lender and survey organisations.

Kazi Fakhrul Islam faces 48 while Fazlus Sobhan faces 47 cases.

The ACC named Deputy Managing Director Kanak Kumar Purkayastha in 23 and Deputy Director A Monayem Khan in 35 cases.

The court granted bail to Fazlus Sobhan in four cases over embezzlement of amounts less than Tk 200 million. But he stays behind bars over the remaining cases, ACC’s lawyer Khrushid Alam Khan told bdnews24.com.

The court also granted bail to former general manager Zainul Abedin Chowdhury, sacked deputy general manager Shipar Ahmed and deputy managing director Md Selim.

The ACC will challenge the order in Appellate Division, Khurshid said.