A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of Bank Asia Limited, speaks at the Annual Business Conference-2013 of the bank at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Bank Asia Limited organised the Annual Business Conference-2013 at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of the Bank, inaugurated the conference, said a press release.

Mohd. Safwan Choudhury, and Mohammed Lakiotullah, Vice Chairmen, Rumee A Hossain, Chairman of Board Audit Committee, AM Nurul Islam and Shah Md. Nurul Alam, Directors, and Md. Mehmood Husain, President and Managing Director, were present.

Dr. Arif Dowla, Chairman of MTB Group, speaks at the annual business conference-2013 of the bank at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Mutual Trust Bank Limited organised its annual business conference-2013 at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Dr. Arif Dowla, Chairman of MTB Group attended the inaugural ceremony along with MTB directors Md. Wakiluddin, Khwaja Nargis Hossain, MA Rouf (JP), Anjan Chowdhury and QAFM Serajul Islam, said a press release.

Anis A. Khan, Managing Director and CEO, Md Ahsan-uz-Zaman, Additional Managing Director, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury and Md. Hashem Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Directors, and divisional and departmental heads, managers of MTB and Chief Executive Officers of the three subsidiaries - MTB Securities Ltd, MTB Capital Ltd and MTB Exchange (UK) Ltd were present.

The annual conference dwelt on the activities of the bank during the previous year and focused on the future business potential and growth. The theme for 2013 - "Towards MTB Shining" was unveiled at the event.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates the 78th branch of Standard Bank Ltd at Tungipara, Patgati Bazar, Gopalgonj Saturday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the 78th branch of Standard Bank Ltd as Chief Guest at Tungipara, Patgati Bazar, Gopalgonj Saturday.

Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and also the Chairman of the Bank presided over the function.

Ashok Kumar Saha, Vice Chairman, Ferozur Rahman, Harun Rashid Chowdhury, Md Faikuzzaman, Directors and high government officials of the country were present on the occasion as guests of honour.

SA Farooqui, Managing Director, Md Nazmus Salehin, Additional Managing Director, Md Abul Hossain, Deputy Managing Director, AFM Nizamul Islam Chowdhury, Group Company Secretary, Md. Nazrul Islam, EVP and clients, prominent industrialists, business personalities and local elites were present on the occasion.

Premier Bank yesterday filed a criminal case against nine of its officials for misappropriating nearly Tk 60 crore between 2011 and 2012.

The case was lodged with the Motijheel Police Station by a senior executive vice-president of the bank, the station's Officer-in-Charge Hayatuzzaman Mollah said.

Shahinur Rahman, the then Motijheel branch manager, sanctioned a loan of Tk 59.34 crore to Alppa Composite Towels Ltd, a concern of Bismillah Towels Group, by bypassing the standard procedure for loan approval, said Abu Hanif Khan, additional managing director of Premier Bank.

“Furthermore, he was negligent in recovery of the loan -- the payments became very

irregular.”

Rahman was handed over to the police yesterday for the charges, Khan said.

Prior to the arrest, Rahman had been posted to the bank's Mymensingh branch as its

manager.

The list of the accused includes one official from the bank's Mohammadpur branch, where the bank found a shortfall in cash.

The top officials of Alppa Composite, the borrowing company, were also among the accused.

It was alleged in some newspapers that the Premier Bank authorities confined some of the bank's officials at its headquarters in Banani on charges of fund misappropriation.

But the bank's additional MD denied the allegations, terming them to be “exaggerations”.

“They were simply called to the head office for interrogation,” said Khan, adding that the officials were given a month's time to recover the loan -- but they failed to.

But some officials of the bank's head office told The Daily Star otherwise: they said they heard about their colleagues' confinement.

Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan, officer-in-charge of the Banani Police Station, told The Daily Star that no complaint was lodged about any confinement of bank officials.

“Higher-ups of the bank were quizzing those officials in the head office,” added Hasan.

HBM Iqbal, chairman of Premier Bank, did not respond to phone calls or text messages from The Daily Star.

Premier Bank, known as a third-generation private commercial bank, got the central bank licence in 1999, and has 64 branches across the country.

It was listed in 2007, with the bank's stock trading at Tk 15.80 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, down from the Tk 28.5 a share recorded in the March-April period of 2012.

Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) is facing losses of Tk 2.23 crore allegedly due to a host of corrupt officials granting loans against fake documents.

The financial irregularities surfaced during an audit inspection by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) in 2010 at the bank's zonal office in Gaibandha and its branches.

Between 1997 and 2010, a number of officials at the branches sanctioned loans which violated Bangladesh Bank's instructions.

And, thanks to the bank's lax internal control and auditing, the discrepancies remained undetected.

According to the watchdog, the RAKUB's main office in Rajshahi lent Tk 1.10 crore in 2005 to one Rejaul Karim Sarker for setting up poultry and dairy farms and fisheries -- without actually verifying the venture's viability.

Furthermore, the officials of the bank were supposed to follow-through on the project's progress, ensuring that the first instalment of the loan was properly used. But the officials never did.

Now, the loan's recovery is in question -- as the project does not exist.

The branch has filed a case with Arthorin Adalat in 2009 in a bid to retrieve the money, but the OCAG deems it to be insufficient.

The report instead recommended that money be realised from the bank officials.

"As the court is dealing with the issue it is no more in our hands. We hope it will be settled soon," Md Mofazzal Husain, managing director of RAKUB, told The Daily Star.

He also said if the court gives a verdict in favour of the bank then they would be able to recoup the loan by selling the properties of the borrower.

A branch under the bank's Gaibandha zonal office lent Tk 36.85 lakh in 2006 -- against similar circumstances.

The bank did not check all the necessary papers, including the Credit Information Bureau report.

The date for repayment has expired in 2007 -- and the sum remains to be realised.

Furthermore, some other branches of the zonal office were involved in misappropriation, of Tk 19.53 lakh in total.

Four officials took the money through fake accounts, which did not have any files under the names.

The head office, however, has caught the officials, said the audit report.

Four officials of another branch under the zone, in connivance with supervisors, misappropriated Tk 56.92 lakh in the name of distributing loans under poverty eradication schemes.

According to the OCAG document, the sum was distributed among farmers in river erosion affected areas at a 6 percent interest rate.

The loans were never realised, with the borrowers remaining untraceable.

“It appeared that the four pocketed the sum and did not distribute it to the real borrowers,” said the OCAG document.

The RAKUB head office took the decision to retrieve the money from the four in 2008 -- but they were not suspended for their misdeeds.

“As the head office has kept their jobs intact, the possibility of repeats of such incidents remains, which will ultimately harm the financial institution from functioning like a bank,” said the document.

When asked if the bank will take any punitive measures against the people involved, he said: "We will have to look into the cases. It will take time, as the irregularities took place years ago."

"But, we will take all steps to recover the money,” added the RAKUB chief.

Husain further said that such incidents were rampant in the past.

"Now, the number is coming down. We have enhanced our monitoring and are regularly sitting with the field-level officers. Our target is to bring down such irregularities to as minimum a level as possible."

The findings were revealed in a report on December 23 of last year, which the audit watchdog prepared after digging out irregularities amounting to Tk 4,811 crore in spending of 22 ministries.