ACC seeks Hall-Mark chairman's bail cancellation

Jasmine Islam. Star file photo

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday appealed to the High Court seeking cancellation of a lower court order granting bail to Hall-Mark Group Chairman Jasmine Islam in a bank-loan scam case.

A Dhaka court on August 4 granted bail to Jasmine in all the 11 corruption cases filed by the ACC against her after she pledged to pay back Tk 2,600 crore, swindled out of Sonali Bank, in monthly installments of Tk 100 crore.

ACC’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that his client filed a petition with the HC to turn down the lower court order granting her bail in a case out of 11.

The ACC will also submit 10 similar petitions to the HC soon in connection with the remaining 10 cases, Khurshid Alam said.

Citing statements of a petition, the ACC counsel said the Dhaka court has illegally granted bail to Jasmine in the 11 corruption cases on August 4, since investigations are going on in the cases and there are serious allegations against her of money laundering.

Granting conditional bail to any accused is always illegal, Khurshid said, adding that Jasmine got release from jail on August 4.

The chief metropolitan Magistrate's court of Dhaka on February 19 sent Jasmine, wife of the Hall-Mark's Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud, to jail after she surrendered before it in connection with the corruption cases.

The ACC on October 4 last year filed the cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group for their involvement in the scam.

Tanvir Mahmud, mastermind of the scam, and Tushar Ahmed, general manager of Hall-Mark and a close relative of Tanvir, are now in jail.

According to a Bangladesh Bank investigation in May 2012, Hall-Mark and five other companies with the connivance of some bank officials had taken out loans of Tk 3,547 crore from the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank, using forged documents.

Of the money, Hall-Mark alone took away around Tk 2,600 crore while T and Brothers commandeered Tk 609.69 crore, Paragon Group Tk 146.60 crore, Nakshi Knit Tk 66.36 crore, DN Sports Tk 33.25 crore and Khanjahan Ali Tk 4.96 crore.