The High Court (HC) on Tuesday discharged a rule issued over the inaction of the government agencies concerned in taking steps to probe the alleged irregularities in loan disbursement by Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, Social Islami Bank Ltd and First Security Islami Bank in 2022.
An HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadoth Hossain passed the order after hearing on the rule.
The HC bench, headed by Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, issued the suo moto (voluntary) rule on December 4, 2022 following some newspaper reports about loan scams in the banks.
However, the bench has opened the floor for the government agencies concerned to take steps to enquire about the alleged irregularities in loan disbursement by the three banks.
The High Court said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the Criminal Investigation Department of Police (CID of Police) have liberty to enquire into the irregularities, if any.
Earlier on February 5 in 2024, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court discharged a High Court rule that was also issued on a voluntary move considering a newspaper report on S Alam Group's alleged money laundering.
In the verdict, the apex court said the ACC, the BFIU, and the BB are not precluded from taking necessary steps over the subject matter on their own.
The HC bench also rejected the rule in line with the apex court's decision passed on February 5 this year. New Age published a report under the banner of 'S Alam Group lifts Tk 30,000cr loans from IBBL alone' on November 30 in 2022.
On November 24 in 2022, Prothom Alo published a report under the banner of 'Islami Banke Bhoyongkor November' (Terrible November in Islami Bank) and The Daily Star also published separate reports on the same issue.
Following the reports, the HC bench on December 4 in 2022 directed the authorities concerned to probe the alleged irregularities in loan disbursement of the three banks.
The ACC, the BB, the BFIU, the CID of Police and the banks concerned were asked to submit probe reports to the court.
The HC bench also ordered the authorities of the three banks to submit to the court the list of names and addresses of the officials who dealt with the loans. It asked S Alam Group to come up with explanations on the reports that it took Tk 300 billion from Islami Bank.
Recently, S Alam Group prayed to the court to become a party in the case and to discharge the suo-moto rule summarily without going into the merit of the case in the light of the judgement passed by the apex court on February 5 this year.
Senior Advocate Ahsanul Karim who appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the S Alam Group told reporters that the reports published in the newspapers are false and baseless.
The reports were published with an intention to damage the business of S Alam Group.
The lawyer further said in the rule it was predetermined that the alleged persons or entities had already committed the offence.
If an HC division bench gives such a decision before any trial, the enquiry of the agencies concerned is liable to be influenced, he added.
Senior Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan took part in the hearing on behalf of the ACC, while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state.
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