Kazi Zahidul Hasan :In an attempt to stop fleeing the country by suspected officials, the authorities of BASIC Bank have urged the government to impose travel restriction on its eight officials who are reportedly involved in Tk 4,500 crore loan irregularities. The BASIC Bank authorities have made the call in a letter to the Banking and Financial Institutions Division (BFDI) of the Ministry of Finance.”We have sent the letter on October 27, requesting the government to issue restriction on travel aboard by eight officials so that they cannot flee the country,” a senior BASIC Bank official told The New Nation yesterday.The officials are: Deputy Managing Director A Monayem Khan, General Managers Md Joynal Abedin Chowdhury, Khandaker Shamim Hasan and Mohammad Ali, Deputy General Managers Shipar Ahmed, SM Zahid Hasan, SM Waliullah and Neelutpal Sarkar. their alleged link with the loan scam. When asked, he said, the authorities of the Bank already stepped forward to ensure vigorous actions against its corrupt staff members who were involved in the huge loan scam.”A departmental action has been initiated as part of our plan to ensure punishment against the officials and the new board of the bank would not be hesitated in taking tough action if they were found guilty,” he said. He further said the loan scams have severely dented image of the bank. So, the bank authorities are serious about restoring image of it by taking stern actions against the corrupt officials. The new management of the bank has also envisaged plan to improve financial health of the bank, he said. The official further said that the Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating the loan scams of the bank and the BASIC Bank authorities have already provided all documents related to loan irregularities to filling graft cases against the suspended bank officials. The ACC has also placed charge sheet against them, he noted. Three audit teams of the bank have been carrying out a special inspection on Gulshan, Santinagar and Dilkusha branches of the bank. The audit teams are scanning all the loan accounts above Tk one crore to assume the loan irregularities occurred in these branches. “They will submit a report after scrutinizing such loan accounts to the bank’s top management,” he said.
