A court in Dhaka has ordered the authorities concerned to confiscate the property of former BASIC Bank Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and four of his family members in connection with the Basic Bank scam.
Md Asaduzzaman, Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka, passed the order on Wednesday, said Mahmud Hossain Jahangir, a public prosecutor (PP) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
He said the anti-graft watchdog is holding inquiry into the allegations of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income brought against Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his family members.
As part of the inquiry, the ACC filed a petition with the court, seeking its order to confiscate properties of the former Basic Bank chairman and four of his family members - wife Shirin Akter, son Sheikh Sabid Hye, daughter Sheikh Rafa Hye and brother Sheikh Shahriar, said the lawyer.
Upon hearing the petition, the court passed the order on Wednesday to confiscate 168 kathas of land in two mouzas in the city's Bashundhara residential area and a flat in Banani DOHS, added the lawyer.
PP Jahangir further said that they placed details of properties held by Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, including assets in the Bashundhara residential area and Banani.
Abdul Hye and his family members own 168 kathas of land in the Bashundhara residential area and are now trying to sell it.
The ACC submitted charge sheets in 58 cases against the former BASIC Bank chairman in June last year.
Between 2009 and 2013, Tk 45 Billion was swindled out of BASIC, once a healthy public bank. Of the sum, more than 95 percent was sanctioned by the board.
In 2015, the ACC filed 56 cases in connection with the scam, but curiously neither Bacchu nor any of the board members were named as accused although multiple probes indicated their involvement. Later, four cases were filed.
However, the charge sheet against Bacchu, a former member of the parliament, took eight years to come by. Of the 59 cases, Bacchu was made accused in 58 cases, according to officials with knowledge of the proceedings. The ACC implicated 101 clients and 45 bank officials in the cases.
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