A Dhaka court today sentenced four people, including three former officials of AB Bank Ltd, to 13 years' rigorous imprisonment in absentia for misappropriating Tk 3.78 crore from the bank.

Judge Shaikh Nazmul Alam of the Special Judge Court-4 of Dhaka handed down the jail sentence and also fined them Tk 2 crore and 10 thousand each.

If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to serve another year in jail.

The accused are: Abu Saleh Md Abdul Mazed, former senior vice-president and branch manager; Faruk Ahmed Bhuiyan, former principal officer of AB Bank Ltd in Motijheel Branch; ANM Bodiuzzaman, former vice-president of Mohakhali's AB Bank Ltd; and Khondaker Md Alam Nadim, proprietor of M/S One Thread & Accessories Ltd.

All the accused went into hiding upon getting bail from different courts on different dates.

The punishment of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, the court added.

Earlier, the court recorded statements of 11 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.

According to the prosecution, it was alleged that Nadim in January 2014 took Tk 3,78,88,000 as loan from AB Bank Ltd and later misappropriated the money in collusion with the bank officials.

Following the incident, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against them with Motijheel Police Station on February 9 of 2015.

After an investigation, ACC Deputy Assistant Director Md Zainul Abedin pressed charges against the four on January 21, 2016. The court framed charges against them on February 24, 2019.