Punitive action on the scam in bankrolling some Tk 35.47 billion to the little-known Hallmark Group and four other businesses began as the Sonali Bank management suspended 17 of its 31 officials under investigation on the corruption charges.

Of the suspended officials, six are of Hotel Rupashi Bangla branch, three of the office of the general manager, which monitored the Rupashi branch, and the remaining ones are of the head office.

Pradip Kumar Dutta, Managing Director of the bank, last night issued suspension orders following a Bangladesh Bank directive to take action against the suspects by August 30.

“Managing Director, exercising his authority as per the rule, issued the suspension orders,” said a source within the Sonali Bank board.

According to the rules of business, the bank management can execute punitive actions against officials below deputy managing director (DMD) on specific charges.

The suspended officials include deputy general manager (DGM) of head office Sheikh Altaf Hossain, assistant general managers (AGMs) Safiz Uddin Ahmed and Ijaj Ahmed, senior executive officers (SEO) Moklesur Rahman and Moshiur Rahman, executive officers (SO) Sohrab Hossain and Ekramul Haque Mandal, and branch inspector Kamrul Hossain Khan.

The rest are AGMs of Dhaka GM office Golam Nabi and Ashraf Ali Patwari, SEO Wahid Uddin Ahmed, SOs of bank’s Ruposhi Bangla branch Ujjal Kishor Dhar, Tushar Kanti Das, Jasmine Nahar, Mihir Chandra Majumder, junior officers Wakil Uddin Ahmed, and officer Saidur Rahman.

Among the remaining accused, seven retired earlier, three were previously suspended and one was made OSD (officer on special duty).

The management will write to the Banking and Financial Institution Division of the Finance Ministry to take action against three other accused, including two deputy managing directors—Atikur Rahman and Mainul Haque.

“In case of managing director and DMDs, the bank shall obtain the approval of the ministry of finance,” said the source in the scam-rattled state-run bank.

Former managing director Humayun Kabir and two other DMDs of the bank were identified as guilty in the Hallmark credit scam in the functional audit report.

Bangladesh Bank on August 26 had directed the Sonali Bank board to suspend 31 officials by August 30.

The central bank had also ordered the bank to send a progress report after executing the BB directives. And the action got underway just as the deadline was over Thursday.

Earlier, the bank management sought ‘additional time’ for executing the Bangladesh Bank (BB) directives of suspending 31 officials involved in the credit forgery.

On Thursday evening, the bank authorities tried but failed to convince the central bank in sanctioning additional time on the plea that executing gross suspension might victimise innocents as many of the officials were not guilty.

According to BB sources, Sonali Bank’s MD Pradip Kumar Dutta visited the central bank Thursday twice. He met the BB Governor in the morning to discuss the issues.

The management of Sonali Bank considered that executing punitive action is a process and it already started by the management as the board of the bank decided to implement the BB directives, said an official of Sonali Bank last night.

“It will take time as the procedure includes giving time to the accused officials for clarification on their respective behalf,” the official earlier said, seeking anonymity.

SB Officials Grilled by ACC:

In the meantime, the Sonali Bank officials quizzed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for their alleged link to the loan forgery gave important information that will help investigation into the scam, ACC sources said.

A total of 17 Sonali Bank officials have been quizzed by the ACC, including five on Thursday, since Bangladesh Bank requested the watchdog to dig out the facts about the country’s single-highest credit forgery.

“During interrogation, they (bank officials) have named a couple of influential people of the government but there is no official record about their involvement in the credit forgery,” an ACC official said, preferring anonymity.

Of the influential people having alleged link to the loan scam, one is identified as an ‘advisor’ to the Prime Minister and a ‘state minister’, he said.

“Everybody (bank officials) grilled by the ACC claimed themselves innocent, saying what has been done in approving the loan was out of ‘a pressure’, the ACC official added.

“However, we will quiz all the officials, who were named in the list sent by the central bank, in phases,” he further said.

The central bank on August 26 sent a list of 32 officials, who were named in the report, submitted by the independent audit firm Saiful Samsul Alam and Company which was assigned to carry out a detailed audit in Sonali Bank’s Rupashi Bangla branch.

When asked whether the central bank will take any further step to examine the status of the bank accounts of the Sonali Bank’s officials concerned, Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit general manager Debprasad Deb Nath said, “It’s now the responsibility of the ACC. We will take necessary actions (in this regard), if they (ACC) thought it ‘rationale’ and send us written request.”

Meanwhile, the Sonali bank has sent an ‘overall report’ to the central bank on Thursday evening detailing punitive actions against 32 officials allegedly involved in the loan-forgery.

Bangladesh Bank on August 26 in a directive asked Sonali Bank’s board of directors and its management to suspend 32 officials named in the audit report by August 30 (Thursday).

The board of directors of Sonali Bank held an emergency meeting Wednesday (August 29) to discuss the central bank directives.

After the board meeting, managing director of the bank Pradip Kumar Dutta told reporters that the board has decided to suspend the officials who are found guilty.

“We will send a report informing the latest status in this regard to the central bank tomorrow,” Dutta told reporters.

Board members KM Zaman Romel and Kashem Humayun, who were present, at the press conference claimed that the former managing director of Humayun Kabir, officials of the Sonali branch and some officials in the general manager’s office that monitored the branch offices were involved in the loan-forgery.

In a written document supplied to reporters, the bank has affirmed that the amount taken away by showing fake documents are Tk 26.67 billion by Hallmark, Tk 6.85 billion by T & Brothers, Tk 1.44 billion by Paragon Group, Tk 653 million by Nakshi Knit Group, Tk 285 million by DN Sports and Tk 151 million by others.

The ACC will interrogate Hallmark Group managing director (MD) Tanvir Mahmud on Sunday over the loan forgery.

It will quiz MD’s wife Jasmine Islam, chairman of Hallmark, general manager Tushar Ahmed, Saiful Islam of Paragon Group, Fahmida Aketr Chowdhury of DN Sports, Abdul Khalek of Nakshi Knit, Abdul Jalil of Khan Jahan Ali Sweaters, Abul Basir of Star Spinning Mills, Md zakaria of Max Spinning Mills and Shahiudl Islam of Apparels Enterprie, ACC sources said.

The anti-corruption watchdog Thursday interrogated five officials of Sonali Bank over the alleged illegal disbursement of loan amounting to over Tk 35 billion from its Ruposhi Bangla branch.

The ACC investigation team quizzed general manager (retd) Sabita Siraj, deputy general manager ANM Hedayet Ullah, assistant general managers Golam Mawla Mollik and Ashraf Ali Patowari and senior principal officer M Wahid Uddin Ahmed.

ACC Public Relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told reporters that the ACC formed a six-member investigation team headed by its deputy director Mir Joynal Abedin Shibli after receiving a letter from the central bank.

An ACC team Wednesday interrogated two general managers (GM office) Mir Mohidur Rahman and Nani Gopal Nath, senior officers of Ruposhi Bangla branch Mihir Chandra Majumder and Wahiduzzaman, and officer Sayedur Rahman

Earlier, the ACC team grilled managing director of Anwar Spinning Mills Jahangir Alam and managing director of Century International Limited Ziaur Rahman for their alleged link to loan forgery.

Meanwhile, Sonali bank has sent an ‘overall report’ to the central bank Thursday evening detailing punitive actions against 32 officials involved in the loan-forgery.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/31-Aug-12