A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced 11 individuals, including former Sonali Bank managing director Humayun Kabir, to different prison terms in a loan forgery case.
Judge Md Zakaria Hossain of the Special Judge's Court-6 in Dhaka delivered the verdict after concluding the trial of the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Other convicts are ex-Sonali DMD Mainul Haque, general managers Noni Gopal Nath and Mir Mahidur Rahman, deputy general manager Md Safiz Uddin Ahmed, and assistant general managers Saiful Hasan and Kamrul Hossain Khan, Khan Jahan Ali Sweaters Ltd chairman Tajul Islam, managing director Abdul Jalil Sheikh and directors Rafiqul Islam and Mir Mohammad Shawkat Ali.
The first seven convicts were sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment along with Tk 10,000 in fines each or in default of which, they will have to serve six more months in jail.
The remaining four were also awarded three years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Tk 11.4 million each. The authorities concerned have been asked to realise the money.
The court also sentenced the last four accused--Tajul, Jalil, Rafiq and Shawkat--to seven years' rigorous jail and fined them Tk 0.1 million each under another section of the law. The two prison sentences for the foursome will run consecutively.
ACC public prosecutor Salauddin Eskander King, who represented the anti-graft body in the court proceedings, confirmed the court order to the FE.
According to sources, three accused were present during the pronouncement of the verdict and they were sent to jail after the court proceedings.
Other accused are on the run.
The ACC filed the case on 01 January 2013 with the Ramna Model Police Station on charges of embezzling Tk 11.4 million from Sonali Bank through loan forgery.
Humayun Kabir, the then managing director and CEO of the country's largest state-owned bank, embezzled Tk 25 billion through the Hall-Mark scam.
In 2021, a Dhaka court sentenced Humayun and 10 others over the embezzlement of Tk 13.7 million. Another court in May 2022 sentenced nine people, including Humayun, in a case filed for defrauding Tk 2.7 million.
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