ACC okays charges against ex-DMD of BASIC Bank

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday approved charge sheet in a case filed against dismissed deputy managing director (DMD) of BASIC Bank, A Monayem Khan.

State-owned BASIC Bank sacked Monayem over Tk 4,500-crore loan scam.

According to the charge sheet, the legal property of Monayem including his bank loan is Tk 1.41 crore.

On the other hand, ACC's Assistant Director and investigation officer Shafi Ullah found the accused invested Tk 2.11 crore in Malaysia.

So it is apparent that he earned Tk 70.5 lakh beyond the known source of income, reads the charge sheet.

Monayem was suspended from the bank in April 2014. On October 31, 2016, the bank dismissed him.

In 2015, the ACC had filed 56 cases over the embezzlement of Tk 2,036 crore from BASIC Bank. The investigation into the siphoning off of the rest of the money was underway. Monayem Khan is accused in 35 of the cases.

Fourteen BASIC Bank officials, including four deputy managing directors and three general managers, have been dismissed over the scam.

One of the best-run banks until 2009, BASIC Bank was entangled in financial irregularities following Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu's appointment as its chairman that year.

In 2012 and the next year, Bangladesh Bank detected the embezzlement of Tk 4,500 crore from the bank.

However, Bacchu was not made accused in any of the cases.

On November 23 this year, the ACC summoned the former chairman and the 10 ex-directors for interrogation.

He was interrogated on December 4 and December 6.

Earlier, on August 18, a three-member Supreme Court bench while holding hearing in two loan scam cases expressed discontent at the ACC for not naming Bacchu and the bank's ex-board members.