ACC grills AB Bank top brass over siphoning off Tk 1.65 b

The national anti-graft agency quizzed on Tuesday the incumbent chairman and managing director of AB Bank Ltd as part of investigation into the laundering of Tk 1.65 billion overseas.

The bank's chairman MA Awal and managing director Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury arrived at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) headquarters in the city's Segunbagicha at around 1:45pm, according to ACC sources.

An ACC team led by its assistant director Gulshan Anwar Pradhan interrogated the bank officials till 3:00pm.

The two top officials of AB Bank came to the ACC on January 8 last for the same purpose for first time though their names are not among the accused, ACC officials said.

Earlier on the day, the ACC team also grilled three of the money laundering accused, including the bank's former senior vice-president M Nurul Azim, head of corporate banking Md Mahfuzul Islam and head of offshore banking unit (OBU) of Chittagong EPZ branch Mohammad Lokman.

The anti-graft watchdog filed a case with Motijheel police station on January 25 accusing seven officials of AB Bank and a businessman of having involvement in siphoning off Tk 1.65 billion to UAE through creating shady companies in between 2013 and 2014.

The commission on Sunday last also interrogated four other accused in the case including the bank's former chairman M Wahidul Haque, former managing directors M Fazlar Rahman and Shamim Ahmed Chaudhury, and former head of financial institutions and treasury Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal.

The last accused in the case, Atlantic Enterprise proprietor Saiful Haque, who is also a client of AB Bank, has been in jail since after his arrest on January 25 by ACC.

According to the case statement, the eight accused, in collusion with each other, opened fake companies in Dubai and laundered Tk 1.65 billion from OBU of AB Bank Chittagong EPZ branch through Singapore and UAE-based fundraising and investment company Pinnacle Global Fund Pte Ltd.

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