CID takes case against Orion Group chief
Staff Correspondent
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday took over the criminal case filed against Orion Group chief Obaidul Karim, and 23 former and incumbent officials of the Oriental Bank for misappropriating Tk 596.44 crore.Assistant Superintendent of Police (CID) Momin Hossain collected the case docket from Sub-Inspector (SI) of Tejgaon Police Station Monirul Islam last evening. The case was filed on Thursday. Meanwhile, the police raided the houses of the accused in the early hours yesterday, but found none. "Thirteen special teams comprising forces drawn from 13 police stations raided the houses of all the 24 accused," SI Monirul told The Daily Star yesterday. The Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday asked the Oriental Bank's chief executive officer to file criminal cases against the ones having role in the scam. Earlier, investigations have gathered that the bank's biggest shareholder Obaidul Karim and its 23 officials including former managing director Chowdhury Koyes Sami were involved in swindling the massive amount out of it. According to the FIR (first information report), Tk 488.50 crore was misappropriated through unauthorised issuance of 369 inter-branch debit advices with the assistance of several officials at the Oriental Bank head office, and Bangshal, Nawabpur, Mirpur Road, Karwan Bazar, and principal branches between 2003 and June 2006. Of the accused, still working at the problem-ridden private bank are Senior Assistant Vice-president Mohammad Yameen, assistant vice-presidents Mohammad Fazlur Rahman and Abul Hossain Chokder, Executive Officer Mohammad Emdad Hossain Bhuiyan, and senior officers Touhiduddin Khandaker and Mohammad Firoz Kabir. The former officials are senior vice-president SM Harun, senior assistant vice-presidents AQM Mahmud Ullah, Manjurul Alim and ANM Asifur Rahman--now absconding, executive officers Tariqul Alam and Arifur Rahman--now working at One Bank, assistant vice-presidents Alamgir Kabir, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Syed Mahmud Hasan, Mustaq Ahmed--now manager of One Bank, Syed Sarfaraj Shah--now working at State Bank of India in Dhaka, Khandaker Shahruk Ahmed--now working at IFIC Bank, executive vice-presidents Quamrul Islam, Istiaq Ahmed Chowdhury--now deputy managing director of Trust Bank Ltd, vice-president AZM Saleh--presently manager of One Bank, and assistant executive officer Saiful Aziz Pavel.
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