ACC ready to sue top officials of Sonali Bank, 5 businesses

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday approved filing of 26 cases against several top officials of Sonali Bank and five business organisations for misappropriating more than Tk 345 crore of depositors’ money.

The cases may be filed on Monday, said a high official at the anti-graft watchdog.

The cases will be lodged against Sonali Bank and the business entities under the anti-money laundering and corruption prevention acts in connection with the misappropriation of more than Tk 345 crore, ACC sources said.

According to an ACC enquiry, the Tk 345 crore money is a funded portion [an amount given in cash] of the Tk 3,547 crore credit that five business firms and Hall-Mark Group swindled from Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch with the help of some bank officials using forged documents between October 2011 and May this year.

The five firms are: T and Brothers, Paragon Knit Composite Ltd, DN Sports , Nakshi Knit and Composite Ltd and Khanjahan Ali Sweater Ltd.

Of the five organisations, T and Brothers swindled Tk 317.52 crore, Paragon Knit Composite Ltd and its sister concern Tk 13.58 crore, DN Sports and its sister concern Tk 2.81 crore, Nakshi Knit and Composite Ltd and its sister concerns Tk 10.81 crore and Khanjahan Ali Sweater Ltd Tk 1.14 crore.

In May this year, a Bangladesh Bank probe revealed serious irregularities at Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch in sanctioning and disbursing loans of Tk 3,547 crore to the five firms and Hall-Mark.

Of the amount, Hall-Mark took Tk 2,686 crore showing fake documents.

On October 4, the ACC filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark for misappropriating over Tk 1,568 crore [funded portion of Tk 2,686 crore].

Source:The Daily Star