High Court summons investigators in all cases tied to BASIC Bank loan scam

The High Court has summoned investigators in a case that involves BASIC Bank’s Tk 35 billion loan scam as they failed to complete the investigation of 56 cases related to the scandal in two and a half years.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 23 May 2018, 08:41 AM
Updated : 23 May 2018, 12:04 PM

It asked them to appear in court on June 30 with investigation documents.

Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim summoned the investigators on Wednesday when it was hearing the bail appeals from some of the accused.

Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters that the court was hearing the bail appeals of BASIC Bank ex-DMD Fazlus Sobhan, former DGM Shipar Ahmed and others.

“During the hearing, the court came to know that the investigation did not end in two and a half years. But the ACC law says any investigation must be completed in 180 days.”

The court ordered the investigation officers of all the cases, including ACC director Syed Iqbal Hossain, to appear in court.

Between 2009 and 2012, the ACC investigated the allegation of Tk 35 billion loan irregularities in Gulshan, Dilkusha and Shantinagar branches of the state-owned bank.

In September 2015, the ACC filed 56 cases with Gulshan, Paltan and Motijheel police stations after the investigation into the money embezzlement.

In these cases, allegations of misappropriation of more than Tk 20 billion were filed against 156 people.

Of the accused, 26 were officials of the bank while the rest were associated with the borrowing institutions and the audit firms.

However, many raised eyebrows about the anti-graft body’s investigation as neither former BASIC Bank Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu nor any other director was named in the cases.

In defence, the ACC said it did not find any involvement of Bachchu in the loan scandal. His name was not kept on the list of suspects.

But in response to a question in parliament in 2016, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the then chairman of the BASIC Bank should have been named in the audit report carried out by the Bangladesh Bank and BASIC Bank.

While holding hearing on two loan scam cases on August last year, a Supreme Court bench expressed dissatisfaction at the ACC for not naming Bachchu and the bank’s ex-board members in the cases.

Amid criticism, Bachchu was summoned and interrogated several times by the ACC. It asked him to reappear on May 30 before the commission.

The ACC has already interrogated 10 former directors of the bank. But the trial has not started since the ACC failed to submit the chargesheet yet.