Tk 140cr scam under ACC probe

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday interrogated eight officials of Sonali Bank's Agargaon branch in connection with a loan scam of Tk 140 crore done in the controversial Hall-Mark style.
A four-member ACC probe team led by its Deputy Director Mohammad Benjir Ahmed said, “We started the investigation following a report headlined 'After Tanvir, it is Gautam' published in The Daily Star on September 13.”
He said in the preliminary investigation, they found that Tk 140 crore had been misappropriated from the branch in the capital between January 2011 and April this year upon fake IBP (inland bill purchase).
Gautam, chief executive officer of Green Printers, took the amount as loan showing his employee Abul Hossain as the owner of one of his business concerns.
Benjir said although all the eight officers of the branch had denied their involvement claiming that their signatures had been forged, the ACC found their involvement.
On October 16, five to six persons from Green Printers and its other business entities, including Gautam and Abul Hossain, might be interrogated in this connection, he added.
According to the news report, Gautam opened inland letter of credit (ILC) to procure yarn and other accessories from local market and got these bills accepted by the Sonali Bank's Agargaon branch. He then sold the bills to other banks and pocketed the money, which Sonali Bank is liable for.
The eight officers of the branch are, Chowdhury Ali Ashraf, officer, Mohammad Moslem, executive officer, Abu Kalam Matobbor, executive officer, Shahidur Rahman, senior executive officer, Khairul Alam, former manager, Shahidul Islam, former manager, Arif, senior officer and Hasan Alvi, senior officer.
Hall-Mark and five other companies had misappropriated Tk 3,606 crore in loan from Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of the same bank through fake IBP.