ACC to grill 12 SB officials

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FE Report The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) will quiz 12 Sonali Bank (SB) officials for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Tk 1.5 billion by Partex Sugar Mills. The ACC served Wednesday notices on the SB officials signed by its Senior Deputy Director SM Akhter Hamid Bhuiyan who is leading the seven-member probe body formed to investigate the allegation, according to Public Relations Officer of ACC Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya. The SB officials who will have to face the grilling are Deputy General Manager (DGM) of SB head office Tariqul Islam Chowdhury, former DGM Mesbaul Haque, Senior Executive Officer Md Shah Alam, Executive Officer Md Ismail, DGM of Bangabandhu Avenue branch Mesbah Uddin, senior officers Sheikh Md Fazlul Haque and Bishamber Kumar Nath, Executive Officer Biplob Bhuson Baxi, Assistant General Managers (AGMs) Mozammel Haque Khan, Md Anisuzzaman, Abul Kalam Md Ishak and Shukendu Bikash Saha. Bangladesh Bank and Sonali Bank first detected the embezzlement by a joint internal investigation. Bangladesh Bank then forwarded a letter to the ACC, requesting it to investigate the issue. According to the probe report, Partex Sugar Mills, a concern of Partex Group, opened two letters of credit (L/Cs) worth Tk 1.5 billion with the Bangabandu Avenue branch of Sonali Bank in 2011. The company deposited only Tk 0 .0742 billion against the L/Cs. Moreover, the company did not deposit any money from the sales of imported sugar, indicating the embezzlement that caused financial loss to the bank. After analysing payment against document (PAD), it is found that Partex Sugar Mills owes Tk 1.36 billion to Sonali Bank. UNB adds: The ACC grilled Wednesday four officials of Jamuna Bank in connection with the alleged swindling of Tk 11 billion from five commercial banks by Bismillah Group, a terry towel producer. An ACC inquiry team started quizzing them at 10am and continued it until 1pm at the ACC head quarters, ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told UNB. The bank officials who faced interrogation were former managing director of Jamuna Bank M Matiur Rahman, senior executive vice president M Yunus Ali, senior assistant vice president M Mahibul Kabir and executive officer Rezaul Karim.