ACC issues overseas travel ban on ex-AB Bank chairman, directors over Citycell loan scam

The Anti-Corruption Commission has clamped an overseas travel ban on former AB Bank chairman M Wahidul Haque and 10 others over a Tk 3.83 billion loan scam involving closed mobile telecom operator Citycell.

ACC Director Md Shamsul Alam, who is investigating the case with regard to the loan scam, sent a letter to the superintendent of police at Special Branch (immigration) on Thursday seeking steps to bar the 11 from travelling abroad.

The 10 others facing the travel ban include incumbent directors of the bank Feroz Ahmed and Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin, while the eight others are former directors.

They are M Abdul Awal, Mohammad Imtiaz Hossain, Shishir Ranjan Bose, Faheemul Huq, Md Mesbahul Hoque, Runa  Zakia Shahrood Khan, Mishaal Kabir, and BB Saha Roy.

None of the 11 is accused in the case over the loan scam involving the country’s oldest mobile phone operator, which was shut down three years ago for its failure to pay up outstanding bills.

They are allegedly trying to travel abroad with their families, according to the ACC letter.

On June 10, the ACC slapped a similar travel ban on the key accused, BNP leader and former foreign minister M Morshed Khan, who is also a former chairman of AB Bank.

Pacific Telecom Bangladesh Limited, with Morshed as its chairman and his wife Nasreen Khan a director, owned the largest stake in Citycell.

Morshed Khan’s Pacific Motors Limited also had a one-third stakes in Citycell.

Initiated in June 2017, the case accuses 16 people of embezzling Tk 3.83 billion borrowed from different lenders for Citycell by using AB Bank’s guarantee, against which the bank required nothing.

Besides Morshed and Nasreen the accused include Citycell MD Mehboob Chowdhury.