MPs blast finance minister for comments on loan scam
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Two senior treasury bench members in the parliament Wednesday blasted the Finance Minister for what they called his callousness and unnecessary comments on the Hallmark loan scam, reports UNB.
Taking floor on the point of order in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim raised the issue and said the Finance Minister's comment on the amount of money was very regretful.
"Tk 3,000 crore may be a small amount for him (Muhith), but it's a big amount for people. Maybe, it's one taka or 10, whatever it is, steps have to be taken," he said.
On Tuesday, Muhith at a function in the city said the loan scandal was 'not a crisis at all.' "It's a matter of Tk 3,000 or 4,000 crore.
Nonsense! But you (media) are harming the banking sector by publicising it," he said on the day.
He said the government cannot shoulder the responsibility of the scandal. He blamed the Bangladesh Bank, Sonali Bank officials, its
board of directors and the Finance Ministry for the scandal.
"He (Muhith) gets older…he should talk less…what type of comments are these? He is embarrassing the government," Selim said.
He voiced dissatisfaction as no criminal case had been filed in this regard. "Arrest and place them on remand. It should be known whether the money is in the country or not."
Selim categorically said a syndicate was involved in the scandal, not a single person. "I urge the Finance Minister to take actions."
He also wanted to know what the central bank did over the last two years, as they came to know about the matter long before. "It seems that officials of the Bangladesh Bank were involved in it."
Taking floor, Tofail Ahmed said the government could avert the responsibility, if the persons involved in the scandal were given exemplary punishment. "If not, the government can't avert the responsibility."
He demanded immediate arrest of the masterminds of the scam and exemplary punishment to them. "If indiscipline breaks out in the banking sector and financial institutions, the country's growth rate gets stuck."
An FE report adds: The Hallmark Group took neither any political recommendation nor any undue advantage for obtaining the loan worth Tk 26.38 billion from the state-owned Sonali Bank Limited, General Manager (GM) of the business conglomerate, Tushar Ahmed, told reporters after being quizzed by the anti-graft watchdog's investigators Wednesday.
As part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged loan scam involving the Hallmark Group, a six-member team of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), led ACC Deputy Director Joynal Abedin Shibli, quizzed Mr Tushar at the Segunbagicha headquarters of the ACC for nearly three hours from about 11:00am.
"We've taken the loan following all legal formalities. We neither lobbied nor took any political advantage for getting the loan sanctioned," Mr Ahmed told newsmen after emerging from the ACC head office.
Claiming transparency in the process of loan disbursement, the tensed GM said he had no relation with political personalities, as the media highlighted, and nobody had favoured him in securing the loan.
"The allegation of loan embezzlement against us is baseless as we took the financial assistance for 34 institutions of the group from the bank as per the rules," the Hallmark GM said.
He dismissed the allegation that they took the loan by producing false documents.
The conglomerate has employed around 40,000 people for its different units.
But the reports in the media raised many questions about the group in the minds of the people and also put its reputation at stake, he added.
"Why are you (the media) after the loan only? We export goods worth millions of dollars and earn revenue for the country - why don't you write that?" he threw a question.
About an allegation of land grab, he said they filled their own land with sand. "It was not a land grab," he said.
When asked whether they got any letter from the Sonali Bank to refund the disbursed money, the GM said they received it and a decision on it would be taken after a meeting scheduled in the evening.
The ACC has so far interrogated about 31 people in connection with the alleged loan forgery.
Earlier on Sunday last, the anti-corruption watchdog summoned Tanvir Mahmud, former managing director of Hallmark Group, his wife Jasmine Islam, also chairman of Hallmark, and its GM Tushar Ahmed over the Sonali Bank loan scam.
Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla branch has come under the spotlight, as the Bangladesh Bank investigators found the branch guilty for disbursing the loan to the group in an unscrupulous way.
According to a functional audit report as of May 31 this year, the branch had disbursed loans worth over Tk 35.6 billion to the Hallmark Group and five other entities ignoring the existing banking rules.
The state-owned commercial bank has so far suspended 17 of its officials and made two deputy managing directors OSD (officer on special duty) for their alleged links with the loan scam.
Taking floor on the point of order in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim raised the issue and said the Finance Minister's comment on the amount of money was very regretful.
"Tk 3,000 crore may be a small amount for him (Muhith), but it's a big amount for people. Maybe, it's one taka or 10, whatever it is, steps have to be taken," he said.
On Tuesday, Muhith at a function in the city said the loan scandal was 'not a crisis at all.' "It's a matter of Tk 3,000 or 4,000 crore.
Nonsense! But you (media) are harming the banking sector by publicising it," he said on the day.
He said the government cannot shoulder the responsibility of the scandal. He blamed the Bangladesh Bank, Sonali Bank officials, its
board of directors and the Finance Ministry for the scandal.
"He (Muhith) gets older…he should talk less…what type of comments are these? He is embarrassing the government," Selim said.
He voiced dissatisfaction as no criminal case had been filed in this regard. "Arrest and place them on remand. It should be known whether the money is in the country or not."
Selim categorically said a syndicate was involved in the scandal, not a single person. "I urge the Finance Minister to take actions."
He also wanted to know what the central bank did over the last two years, as they came to know about the matter long before. "It seems that officials of the Bangladesh Bank were involved in it."
Taking floor, Tofail Ahmed said the government could avert the responsibility, if the persons involved in the scandal were given exemplary punishment. "If not, the government can't avert the responsibility."
He demanded immediate arrest of the masterminds of the scam and exemplary punishment to them. "If indiscipline breaks out in the banking sector and financial institutions, the country's growth rate gets stuck."
An FE report adds: The Hallmark Group took neither any political recommendation nor any undue advantage for obtaining the loan worth Tk 26.38 billion from the state-owned Sonali Bank Limited, General Manager (GM) of the business conglomerate, Tushar Ahmed, told reporters after being quizzed by the anti-graft watchdog's investigators Wednesday.
As part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged loan scam involving the Hallmark Group, a six-member team of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), led ACC Deputy Director Joynal Abedin Shibli, quizzed Mr Tushar at the Segunbagicha headquarters of the ACC for nearly three hours from about 11:00am.
"We've taken the loan following all legal formalities. We neither lobbied nor took any political advantage for getting the loan sanctioned," Mr Ahmed told newsmen after emerging from the ACC head office.
Claiming transparency in the process of loan disbursement, the tensed GM said he had no relation with political personalities, as the media highlighted, and nobody had favoured him in securing the loan.
"The allegation of loan embezzlement against us is baseless as we took the financial assistance for 34 institutions of the group from the bank as per the rules," the Hallmark GM said.
He dismissed the allegation that they took the loan by producing false documents.
The conglomerate has employed around 40,000 people for its different units.
But the reports in the media raised many questions about the group in the minds of the people and also put its reputation at stake, he added.
"Why are you (the media) after the loan only? We export goods worth millions of dollars and earn revenue for the country - why don't you write that?" he threw a question.
About an allegation of land grab, he said they filled their own land with sand. "It was not a land grab," he said.
When asked whether they got any letter from the Sonali Bank to refund the disbursed money, the GM said they received it and a decision on it would be taken after a meeting scheduled in the evening.
The ACC has so far interrogated about 31 people in connection with the alleged loan forgery.
Earlier on Sunday last, the anti-corruption watchdog summoned Tanvir Mahmud, former managing director of Hallmark Group, his wife Jasmine Islam, also chairman of Hallmark, and its GM Tushar Ahmed over the Sonali Bank loan scam.
Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla branch has come under the spotlight, as the Bangladesh Bank investigators found the branch guilty for disbursing the loan to the group in an unscrupulous way.
According to a functional audit report as of May 31 this year, the branch had disbursed loans worth over Tk 35.6 billion to the Hallmark Group and five other entities ignoring the existing banking rules.
The state-owned commercial bank has so far suspended 17 of its officials and made two deputy managing directors OSD (officer on special duty) for their alleged links with the loan scam.