Sonali Bank board has not taken any responsibility of Tk 36 billion loan scam of the bank.

"We don't feel that we failed to do our duties," said the bank's Director K M Zaman Romel at a press briefing after a board meeting in Motijheel on Wednesday.

"Board is very serious, judicious and competent," he claimed.

The press briefing, attended by another Director, Kashem Humayun, and Chief Executive Officer Pradip Kumar Datta, was held in the backdrop of massive corruption unearthed by the central bank. Hallmark Group is alleged to be the beneficiary of Tk 27 billion out of the total amount.

Bangladesh Bank in May found out that some corrupt officials of the bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch misappropriated Tk 36 billion through irregularities between 2011 and May 2012.
The financial regulator also sent a report to the Ministry of Finance on Monday asking for restructuring the board on the ground that it was hardly credible that the directors were not aware of the massive corruption.

When asked about the Bangladesh report, Romel said the board was yet to get it formally.

"We will submit a report about what the board so far did and what it will do in future to the Finance Minister," he added.

Romel, also the Chairman of the audit committee of the board, said the bank was taking actions against very senior officials including a former Managing Director, two Deputy Managing Directors, five General Managers and six Deputy General Managers.

"This proves that we are serious," he said, "Had the board been inactive, you (journalists) would not get so much information about the wrongdoings."

He further said the scam happened through day-to-day operations and the board cannot interfere in the regular operations.

When asked being the chairman of the audit committee why he did not take any action against the corrupt officials, he said, "No board can take any steps on its own."

Under the rules, any branch is supposed to be audited twice in a year but the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch did not follow it.

"Audit is the responsibility of the management and if they produced any report, the board could have taken action according to the report."

HALLMARK GROUP

Chief executive Pradip Kumar Datta said they were in constant contact with Hallmark Group, which illegally took Tk 26.68 billion in loan from the bank.

"Our main objective is to recover the money and punish the wrongdoers," he said.

"We can lodge criminal case anytime if we want to but it will not help us to recover the money before the loan is securitised," he said.

The Group acknowledged that they had taken the loan and mortgaged 46.5 acres of land, which they claimed was worth Tk 20 billion and was in process to mortgage another 1300 acres of land, he said

"We also asked them to pay 25 percent of the total loan immediately and provide security for the rest 75 percent," Datta said adding, "So far, we have collected Tk 3.77 billion from them."

"If we filed criminal case against the group, the whole amount would have been classified and we could not recover the amount," he explained.

32 OFFICIALS

The audit report found out that 32 bank officials were involved in wrongdoing and Bangladesh Bank asked the largest commercial bank to suspend them.

Director Kashem Humayun said the bank had already suspended three officials and was acting against 29 others. "There are certain procedures to take action against officials," he said.

Once charges against them are formed, they would be given seven or eight days to respond and if the replies are not satisfactory, actions would be taken.

"We will inform Bangladesh Bank about what actions have been taken so far," he said.

CEO Datta said they should not take legal steps in haste against officials so that they can get away through the loopholes of the law.

The bank in a written statement said some corrupt officials of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch misappropriated a huge amount of money.

Out of Tk 36.06 billion, Hallmark Group misappropriated Tk 26.68 billion, T & Brothers Group Tk 6.86 billion, Paragon Group Tk 1.45 billion, DN Sports Tk 286 million, Nakshi Knit Tk 653 million, and others Tk 153 million.

Out of the total amount, Tk 20 billion is funded and Tk 16.7 billion is non-funded. The bank has suspended payment of about Tk 10 billion of the non-funded amount.

News: bdnews24.com/Bangladesh/29-Aug-12