Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Monday called for the records relating to waiving of interest worth Tk 47.9 crores against a loan of Tk 85 crores sanctioned to Mohammad Ali Abbas, a businessman and also former joint convener of Chattogram south district unit of BNP, by Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) Agrabad Branch.
The respondents have been asked to submit the records within four weeks. At the same time the court issued a ruling upon the respondents to explain as to why the decision of the bank of waiving of interest worth Tk 47.9 crores against a loan should not be declare illegal.
Finance secretary, Bangladesh Bank governor, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and Bangladesh Krishi Bank’s chairman and managing director have been asked to comply with the ruling within four weeks.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir passed the order after holding hearing on a public interest litigation filed in this regard. Anichur Rahman, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the petition with the HC on last Wednesday challenging the legality of the interest waiving. He annexed a published report in this regard with the petition.
Advocate Chanchal Kumar Biswas appeared in the court on behalf of the petitioner, while deputy attorney general Aurobinda Kumar Roy represented the state.
Bangladesh Krishi Bank at its 740th meeting of the Board of Directors has waived him interest worth Tk 479 million, according to the published report.
The report also read that the BNP leader who is also a businessman took a loan of Tk 85 crores from the Agrabad branch of the Bangladesh Krishi Bank in 2011. A case was also filed with the Artha Rin Adalot after two years as the businessman failed to repayment of the loan.
The Anti-Corruption Commission also filed a case against him on charge of money laundering and amassing wealth in the name of himself and his wife with that money. But before any of the two cases were disposed of the Krishi Bank authorities waived the interest on the loan of about Tk 47.9 crores.
Bangladesh Bank has already probed into the allegation. The probe body found the businessman named Mohammad Ali Abbas. The name of his business organization is ‘Abbas Trading’. He received the loan in 2011. But in last 10 years he didn’t paid the loan.
Later in 2013 the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case against him on charge of money laundering and amassing wealth in the name of himself and his wife with that money. He secured bail in the case from the High Court. The case is now pending in a special court in Chattogram.
In the same year Krishi Bank authorities also filed a case in a Artha Rin Adalot against him. That case is also pending before the court.
The businessman filed an application on June 30 in 2019 to get waiver the interest of the loan. Bangladesh Krishi Bank at its 740th meeting of the Board of Directors has waived him the interest.
