DNCC suspends three officials on bribery allegations
ACC quizzes current, former AB Bank directors over Tk 383cr loan
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) yesterday suspended three of its supervisors over bribery allegations.
DNCC suspended Licence and Advertisement supervisors -- Manik Mollik, Abul Kalam Azad and Nayeem Hossain -- after a team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found out that they were taking bribe from service-seekers with the help of three brokers, confirmed ASM Mamun, DNCC public relations officer.
A seven-member team, led by ACC Assistant Director Selina Akhtar Moni, conducted the drive at the office of DNCC's executive officer in Mirpur, says a press release.
The team recommended that Executive Officer (zone-2) Selim Fakir suspend the officials. Selim then informed the matter to the high-ups, who suspended them.
ACC Director General (Admin) Mohammad Munir Chowdhury coordinated the drive.
Meanwhile, upon receiving a complaint in its hotline (106) that some people are razing a hill at Aldarpara of Sylhet's Jalalabad upazila, the director general instructed Deputy Director of the Department of Environment in Sylhet, Altaf Hossain, to stop it.
Talking to The Daily Star, Altaf said they went to the spot but found no one. “We seized some crowbars and baskets. We snapped electricity connections and sealed off the room used by labours,” he said. A truck was also seized.
INTERROGATION
ACC yesterday interrogated six present and former directors of AB Bank in connection with a case filed over alleged embezzlement of over Tk 383 crore between 2011 and 2015.
Deputy Director Shamsul Alam quizzed them from 9:30am to 5:00pm, said Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, ACC public relations officer.
The incumbent directors are Shishir Ranjan Bose and Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin while the former ones are Bishal Kabir, Faheemul Huq, Mesbahul Hoque and BB Saha Roy.
On October 1, ACC interrogated the bank's former chairman M Wahidul Haque and three others over the matter.
According to the case statement, AB Bank unlawfully guaranteed loans of Tk 348.5 crore given to Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL) without taking any collateral from PBTL, by eight other banks and other financial institutions. AB Bank was bound to pay off the loans with interest -- over Tk 383 crore -- after the borrower failed to repay the money within a year.