Probe report on Bismillah Group loan scam submitted to ACC

FE Report The special investigation and inquiry wing (SIIW) Tuesday submitted the probe report on Bismillah Group loan scam to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), an official said. "We have submitted the probe report to the commission after scrutinising it thoroughly. Now, the commission will decide about its approval," the SIIW director general M Ziauddin Ahmed told the FE. He said they did not get anything wrong in the probe report which was submitted to SIIW by the ACC probe team early this week. A five-member inquiry team of ACC investigated the allegation of around Tk 11 billion loan scam of Bismillah Group, a terry towel producer, from five commercial banks showing fake documents. After eight months of investigation, the team completed its inquiry which was formed on February 26 last. According to a Bangladesh Bank report, Bismillah Group swindled about Tk 11 billion from state-run Janata Bank and four private commercial banks - Prime Bank, Shahjalal Bank, Jamuna Bank and Premier Bank - showing fake export documents, taking government's cash incentive to open business firms abroad and with accommodated bills through Letters of Credit (LCs). The ACC probe team found the proof of embezzlement and made recommendations to file 12 cases against a total of 52 officials of the terry towel maker and the five banks. The controversial group swindled the money with the help of bank officials between June 2011 and July last year, mostly through LTR (loan against trust receipt) using names of fake foreign buyers and forged documents, the enquiry team revealed. With the approval of the Commission, the probe team will file cases against the accused under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, ACC officials said. ACC deputy director Syed Iqbal Hassain led the five-member probe team.