A number of forgeries has been detected in the disbursement of a huge amount of loans by the Dilkusha branch of the BASIC Bank in the first half of this year. The bank disbursed Tk. 1,316 crore in loans to its clients till June.

Despite being hit by a huge scam related to disbursal of loans over the last couple of years, depositors’ money from the bank continued to be plundered. Loans worth Tk. 25 crore were disbursed in the first six months of this year, with the Dilkusha branch flouting banking rules with impunity.
Most of the loans were distributed without proper credit assessment and, in some cases, large-scale cheating was conducted during disbursal of loans, an inspection by the central bank revealed. A good number of loans had been cleared without visiting the businesses and without collecting Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reports of many customers. Some loans were approved in undue haste. Loans were even disbursed to fake companies.
The companies which benefited from the loan irregularities are Venerable Export Industries Ltd, Prime Jute Industries Ltd, Nova Auto Bricks, Phoenix Hatchery Ltd, Sohel Enterprise, Reliance Shipping Lines, Dav Enterprise, Apollo Engineering and Construction Ltd, and Oil Tex Ltd.
The Dilkusha branch disbursed a Tk. 2 crore CC loan to M/S Venerable Export Industries Ltd against mortgage of its property on December 30, 2013. The amount was disbursed in a single pay order, but since then, no transaction was found in that account.
The investigation also found that the branch manager influenced the credit officers to disburse a Tk. 7-crore term loan on April 22 this year to the company, despite objections from the bank’s legal officer. The legal department, in its objection, noted that the property which was mortgaged by the company was not sufficient for availing the loan.
Again, by providing a loan to Prime Jute Industries Ltd despite objections from the bank’s legal team, the bank incurred a loss of Tk. 8.3 crore. 
The Dilkusha branch manager also ordered disbursement of Tk. 52-lakh credit in favour of two sister concerns of Prime, without approval from the bank’s head office.
In April this year, Nova Auto Bricks, which had a classified loan of Tk. 35.6 crore with the bank, was given a fresh loan of nearly Tk. 1 crore in clear violation of the Bank Company Act, 1991. After getting the loan, the company did not make any transaction in its account.
Phoenix Hatchery Ltd has a classified loan with the bank, amounting to Tk. 10 crore. Even then, the company was given a term loan of Tk. 3.10 crore in February in violation of banking rules.
The bank provided a Tk. 4-crore loan to Sohel Enterprise even though it knew that the company already had a Tk. 16-crore bad loan with the bank.
Swindling turned into an art in the case of Reliance Shipping, which was given a Tk. 16-crore loan against the purchase of three vessels from Belayet Navigation owned by Gazi Belayet Hossain, general secretary of Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners’ Association.
However, during the inspection, the central bank found no existence of Reliance Shipping, and concluded that a fake company had been created to loot the amount from the bank. The total outstanding on the Reliance account stands at Tk. 21.32 crore now.
“It is most surprising that the loan file is not available in the bank’s custody,” said the Bangladesh Bank (BB) report. According to the BB team, the customer, along with the branch manager and credit officials, forged the entire loan amount.
The Dilkusha branch approved a CC loan for Tk. 3.5 crore in favour of M/S Dav Enterprise on October 19, 2011. Within four months of the CC loan approval, the bank increased the CC loan limit to Tk. 13.50 crore without any specific reason. The current outstanding of the company is Tk. 16.11 crore. The BB team found irregularities in the disbursal of the loan as it was approved despite objections from the legal department.
M/S Apollo Engineering and Construction Ltd opened 12 L/Cs and 23 STL. The company’s total outstanding is now Tk. 51.57 crore. On December 30, 2012, without any strong reason in favour of the customer, the bank authorities enhanced the time limit of the payment. The BB inspection team criticised the board for enhancing the time limit for the company.
Oil Tex Ltd and its subsidiaries have an outstanding loan of Tk. 181.30 crore with the Dilkusha branch and Tk. 46.63 crore of it is classified. Despite being a classified borrower, a Tk. 6.20-crore loan was given to the company this year, in clear violation of banking rules.