Graft: Morshed Khan, 12 others get bail

The High Court today granted anticipatory bail for four weeks to former BNP foreign minister M Morshed Khan, his wife Nasrin Khan and 11 others in a corruption case.

The High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath granted them bail after hearing a petition filed by the accused seeking anticipatory bail.

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The accused appeared before the High Court bench for bail.

The Anti-Corruption Commission had sued former foreign minister M Morshed Khan, his wife Nasrin Khan and 14 others for allegedly embezzling over Tk 383 crore of AB Bank between 2011 and 2015.

ACC Deputy Director Sheikh Abdus Salam filed the case with Banani Police Station.

Morshed is the chairman and Nasrin is a director of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL). The other accused include PBTL Vice Chairman Asghar Karim, its Chief Executive Officer Mehboob Chowdhury, three former managing directors of AB Bank Kaiser Ahmed Chowdhury, Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, M Fazlur Rahman, and current MD of the bank Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury.

The remaining accused in the case are officials of the bank.

According to the case statement, AB Bank unlawfully guaranteed loans of Tk 348.5 crore given to PBTL by eight other banks and non-bank financial institutions. The board and other top officials of AB Bank approved the move without taking any collateral from PBTL, in violation of the rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank.

As the guarantor, AB Bank was bound to pay off the loans with the interest -- over Tk 383 crore -- after the borrower failed to repay the money in a year.

Of Tk 348.5 crore loan money, PBTL took Tk 50 crore from IFIC Bank, Tk 10 crore from Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Tk 23 crore from Saudi Bangladesh Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company, Tk 30 crore from Pubali Bank, Tk 47 crore from Phoenix Finance and Investment, Tk 50 crore from NCC Bank, Tk 38.5 crore from City Bank and Tk 100 crore from Dhaka Bank.

Most of these loans were taken between 2012 and 2013, according to the ACC investigation.