Court jails former Sonali Bank MD, seven others

A Dhaka court on Thursday sentenced eight persons, including former Managing Director of the state-owned Sonali Bank Humayun Kabir, in a case filed over embezzling Tk 21.64 million.
Judge of the Special Court-5 in Dhaka Md Iqbal Hossain delivered the verdict after concluding the trial of the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The seven other convicts are--- former Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Mainul Haque, General Manager Noni Gopal Nath, Deputy General Manager Md Safiz Uddin Ahmed, Assistant General Managers Saiful Hasan and Kamrul Hossain Khan, managing director of the Paragon Knit Composite Limited Saiful Islam Raja and director of the company Abdullah Al Mamun.
Humayun Kabir, Noni Gopal, Saiful Hasan, Saiful Islam Raja and Abdullah Al Mamun were given 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk21.64 million for embezzling the money.
The fine money will be deposited to the government exchequer, the court said.
The court also handed down 7 years' imprisonment to each of them and fined Tk50,000 for the fund misappropriation.
In default to pay the fine, they will have to serve three months more in jail.
Both sentences will run concurrently, with each of the convicts serving 10 years in prison.
Apart from this, Mainul Haque, Safiz Uddin and Kamrul Hossain were given 5 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 21.64 million for the cheating.
They were also handed down 3 years' imprisonment and fined Tk50,000 for the defalcation.
They will have to serve three months more in jail in default to pay the money.
The court acquitted Deputy General Manager Sheikh Altaf Hossain as the charge brought against him could not be proved.
Mainul Haque, Safiz Uddin and Kamrul Hossain were produced in the court during the deliberation of the verdict.
The court issued arrest warrant against five other accused as they have remained absconding.
The ACC filed the case with Ramna Model Police Station in 2013 over the embezzlement of more than Tk 21.64 million.
Following an investigation, SMM Akhter Hamid, a deputy director of the ACC, submitted the charge sheet to the court in 2014.
The court framed charges on April 6 in 2015 against the accused. A total of 42 witnesses gave their depositions in the case.
The convicts in the case were also suspects in other cases the ACC filed over the Hall-Mark scam.
Humayun Kabir, who was suspended from the bank, went into hiding after the court issued an arrest order against him.
Humayun Kabir, the then managing director and CEO of Sonali Bank, embezzled Tk 25 billion through the Hall-Mark scam.
In 2021, a Dhaka court ordered jail sentences for Humayun Kabir and 10 others over the embezzlement of Tk 13.7 million. Another court in May 2022 sentenced nine people including Humayun Kabir in a case filed over embezzlement of Tk 2.7 million.

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