Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Wednesday summoned all the Investigation Officers of 56 cases filed in connection with Basic Bank loan scams, seeking their explanation over the delay in completing the investigation.
They will have to appear in the court on May 30, 2018 along with all the relevant documents of the cases.
The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim passed the order while hearing four petitions filed by accused including Fazlus Sobhan, the then Managing Director of Basic Bank, seeking bail in the cases.
The court also expressed dissatisfaction over the investigations of the cases as the investigations were not finished in due time of 180 days.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, Advocate Syed Mamun Mahbub and Advocate Fazlul Haque appeared in the court on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru stood for the bail petitioners.
“The Anti-Corruption Commission filed 56 cases in connection with the Basic Bank loan scams,” Anti-Corruption Commission’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the journalists.
“During the proceedings, the court found that the investigations of the cases were not finished in due time. So, the court summons all the Investigation Officers,” the ACC lawyers said.
According to a Bangladesh Bank enquiry, about Tk 4,500 crore was siphoned out of the state-run bank between 2010 and 2013 when Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu chaired its Board.
On July 14, 2014, the central bank sent a report on the scam to the ACC, detailing how people embezzled money from the bank through shell companies and dubious accounts.
The BB found that Bachchu illegally influenced all the activities of the bank, leaving the once-sound institution in a grave state.
In 2015, the ACC had filed the 56 cases over the scam at Motijheel, Paltan and Gulshan Police Stations in the city.
The ACC accused 120 persons in those cases, however, Bachchu, the then Chairman of the bank, was not made accused in any of the cases. Among the 120 persons, 27 are officers of the Basic Bank, 11 are surveyors and 82 are debtors.
According to the Bangladesh Bank, till June 30, 2017, the rate of the default loan of the Basic Bank is 53 percent (7 thousand 390 crore), which is highest rate of the default loan of any bank.
As per BB report, the total amount of loan distributed by the Basic Bank was Tk 2 thousand 700 crore by December in 2008. The figure stood at Tk 9 thousand 373 crore by March in 2013, which means the bank distributed Tk 6 thousand 673 crore by those four years and three months. About Tk 4 thousand 500 crore was distributed violating the law among the loans distributed by this time.
