Former chairman of South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce (SBAC) Bank Limited SM Amzad Hossain and six other officials of the bank were sued by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on embezzlement and money laundering charges.
The accused individuals, in collusion with each other, swindled around Tk206 million from the bank through approving loans to a fake company named Khulna Builders Ltd allegedly owned by the SBAC Bank chairman, according to the case statement.
The case was filed by ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar Pradhan on Thursday evening as per sections 409, 420, 468, 471, and 109 of the Penal Code, section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, said ACC public relations official.
Six other accused officials of the bank are -- senior officer of its principal branch Biddut Kumar Mandal, operations manager Md Manjurul Alam, vice-president and former manager of principal branch SM Iqbal Mehedi, credit in-charge of SBAC Bank Khulna branch Md Nazrul Islam, former MTO of the same branch Tapu Kumar Saha, and senior officer Maria Khatun.
The former SBAC chairman, abusing his power, influenced the bank authorities to sanction a loan to Khulna Builders Ltd based on fake visit report and false stock lot information.
During primary inquiry, the commission found that the former SBAC Chairman is the managing director of the fake company and all the activities of the company are done by him.
The funds received by the company were transferred in phases to the accounts of different companies and individuals by issuing cheques signed by Mr Amzad, the case statement added.
However, when allegations of irregularities were raised against him, Mr Amzad resigned from the bank's board on September 07 mentioning physical illness as the reason for stepping down.
Besides, on March 11, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank froze all the bank accounts of Mr Amzad, his wife Sufia Amzad and daughter Tazri Amzad for 30 days on charges of graft.
The BFIU's move comes after the anti-graft authorities imposed a travel ban on January 07 for Mr Amzad who had been the founding chairman of the bank since 2013.
The ACC also issued a travel ban on Amzad and his family members as part of investigation.
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