3 Sonali officials arrested

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday arrested three high officials of Sonali Bank for their alleged involvement in the Hall-Mark loan scam.
The trio along with 24 high officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group were accused in 11 cases filed by the commission for misappropriating over Tk 1,568 crore of depositors' money.
An ACC team accompanied by law enforcers arrested General Manager Meer Mahidur Rahman (now an officer on special duty), suspended deputy general managers Sheikh Altaf Hossain and Shafijuddin Ahmed of the bank's head office.
The arrestees were taken to Ramna Police Station at about 7:05pm, said Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of the police station.
Wishing anonymity, an ACC official said the three will be taken to the ACC's Segunbagicha office today morning, and then they will be produced before a Dhaka Court with remand prayers in the cases.
Of the 27 accused, the ACC has so far arrested four high officials of Sonali Bank and three high-ups of controversial Hall-Mark Group.
The other arrestees are AKM Azizur Rahman, ex-manager of Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch, Tanvir Mahmud, managing director of Hall-Mark Group, his wife Jasmine Islam, also chairperson of the Group, and Tushar Ahmed, general manager of the company.
Following a two and a half months' probe, the ACC on October 4 filed 11 cases against the 27 officials under anti-money laundering and corruption prevention acts.
According to the probe findings, Hall-Mark took a loan of over Tk 1,568 crore from Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch between October last year and May this year through forged inland bill purchase, fraudulently showing some of the Hall Mark officials as owners of various businesses.
In May, a Bangladesh Bank investigation revealed serious irregularities at the Sonali Bank branch in sanctioning and disbursing loans of Tk 3,547 crore. Of the amount, Hall-Mark Group took Tk 2,686 crore showing fake documents.