Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday approved removal of Agrani Bank Managing Director Syed Abdul Hamid from his post on charge of corruption and loan irregularities.
The action followed after a BB standing committee found him guilty of 12 counts of offence, including misuse of power, failure to safeguard depositors’ interests and granting loans violating banking rules, officials said.
A senior BB official told The New Nation yesterday that BB governor Dr Fazle Kabir on Wednesday afternoon approved removal of Agrani Bank Managing Director (MD) in exercise of power given to him under Bank Company Act 1991.
“An official letter in this regard would be issued tomorrow (Thursday) firing Hamid from his post,” he said, adding, “Copies of the letter will be forwarded to Agrani Bank’s chairman and the finance ministry’s banking division as well’.
He said, all offences against Argani MD have been proved. He has completely failed to perform his duty to look after the bank. So, the governor gave his consent to remove him form his post.
Hamid, who became MD in 2010, failed to take actions after a host of loan scandals involving around Tk 792 crore detected earlier at the bank by the BB inspection team.
Even, the BB team found his involvement in these financial irregularities.
The Agrani Bank’s MD had also taken loans from other banks to disburse the fund to some business groups, breaking the bank’s credit rules
Hamid could not be reached over phone for comments despite repeated attempts on last night.
Earlier, the BB standing committee in its recommendations to central bank governor Fazle Kabir said Hamid was also responsible for defaulted loans amounting to Tk 435 crore in Agrani Bank.
The committee interrogated Hamid in a personal hearing in June 13-15 at BB headquarters after a show-cause notice served on him on February 17 failed to satisfy the central bank.
“In the hearing, Hamid failed to give satisfactory answers to the allegations brought against him. Even he tried to mislead the standing committee by giving the wrong explanation,” said the BB official.
The BB again issued a letter to Hamid asking him to explain by March 3 why the central bank would not remove him from the post of managing director of Agrani Bank in line with the Bank Company Act 1991.
Hamid answered on March 16, 2016 and declined his involvement in the loan scandals.
Earlier, the central bank fired BASIC Bank MD Kazi Faqurul Islam for presiding over a period of serious irregularities, banking including Tk 4,500 crore loan scandals at the state-run scheduled bank.
