Sonali files another case against Hall-Mark Chairman, MD

The embattled state lender Sonali Bank Limited (SBL) on Tuesday filed another case against the top bosses of Hall-Mark Group in an attempt to recover about Tk 4.50 billion allegedly stolen by one of the affiliates of the company.
Hall-Mark scam, regarded as the biggest banking fraud in the country, put Sonali's risk management and internal control into question and ripped a hole in the public banking sector.
The bank's executive officer Md Abdus Salam filed the 14th case against the group in the court of Judge Md Rabiuzzaman of Artha Rin Adalat on behalf of the bank.
Hall-Mark Chairman Jasmin Islam and Managing Director (MD) Tanvir Mahmud are the accused in the case.
Mr Salam had earlier said that his bank would file a total of 21 cases against the Chairman and the MD of Hall-Mark Group as they defaulted on payment of loans.
The name of the entity is Hall-Mark Fashions Limited, a concern of the Group.
Judge Md Rabiuzzaman set June 29 for the next hearing after accepting the case. The court also asked the Hall-Mark Group Chairman and MD to explain their role in drawing more than Tk 4.50 billion in loan by the same day.
On February 3 last, the bank's board of directors decided to file cases against Hall-Mark Group with Artha Rin Adalat and other civil courts in a bid to recover the money embezzled by the Group.
The Anti-corruption Commission filed 11 cases against 27 officials of Hall-Mark Group and SBL in October 2012 and brought charges against 25 of them in October last year on money laundering.
An investigation by the Bangladesh Bank revealed that the bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Branch of had lent Hall-Mark Group and five other companies Tk 36.06 billion between 2010 and May 2012 on the basis of 'fake' documents.