Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for the long delay in completing investigations in the cases over Basic Bank loan scams.
“More than five years have passed, but the Anti-Corruption Commission is yet to submit charge sheets (to the lower court) in the cases filed for Basic Bank loan scams. Will the investigation continue for an indefinite period?” said the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman. The bench made the observation while hearing a bail petition of Mohammad Ali, former manager of Basic Bank’s Shantinagar branch, in a case filed by the ACC.
The ACC filed the case with Dhaka’s Paltan Police Station on September 23, 2015 against Mohammad Ali and some others on charge of embezzling Tk 500 million from the bank.
The HC bench granted bail to Mohammad Ali who was shown arrested in the case on December 12, 2018, said advocate Khurshid Alam Khan who appeared in the court for the ACC.
He said Mohammad Ali cannot get bail as he has been arrested in 12 other cases involving around Tk 3.0 billion.
During the hearing, ACC lawyer Khurshid told the High Court that the ACC has so far examined 2,600 witnesses in connection with 56 cases filed over the Basic Bank scams and recovered Tk 31.0 billion of the stolen money.
The ACC has been maintaining the “follow the money policy” in line with the advice of Asia Pacific Group, an anti-money laundering regional body of 41 countries including Bangladesh, in order to recover the misappropriated money.
The court said the “follow the money policy” is against the reality in respect to this case.
Khurshid Alam Khan said the ACC has recovered around Tk 200.0 billion from corrupt people and deposited it to the state fund in the last five years.
If the ACC did not follow the policy of “follow the money”, it could not recover such a huge amount, the lawyer said.
According to a Bangladesh Bank enquiry, around Tk 45.0 billion was siphoned off from Basic Bank between 2009 and 2013 when Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu chaired the board of the bank.
