A Dhaka court on Thursday sentenced four former officials of Dhaka Bank Ltd to 20 years in jail each in a case involving fraud, forgery and embezzlement of bank funds.
Judge Muhammad Hasanuzzaman of the Dhaka Special Judge Court-1 delivered the verdict.
The convicts are former executive vice president of Dhaka Bank’s Central Accounts and Investment Division Kazi Farid Uddin Ahmed FCA, former vice president Abu Mohammad Saeed Khan, and former senior principal officers Prabir Kumar Bhowmik and Shawkat Ali.
The court sentenced each of them to 10 years’ imprisonment and fined them Tk50,000 for criminal breach of trust.
They were also awarded five years each and fined Tk20,000 for forgery, and another five years with a Tk25,000 fine for misappropriation of funds.
In case of failure to pay the fines, each convict will have to serve additional jail terms as ordered by the court.
According to the case documents, Mohammad Yusuf Ali opened an account with Dhaka Bank on 4 November, 2002, and later applied for an overdraft loan facility.
The bank initially approved a loan of Tk17 lakh against collateral of 1,000 shares of Confidence Cement Ltd and 7,500 shares of Meghna Cement Ltd.
The loan limit was later increased to Tk24 lakh after the same shares were kept as security.
However, during verification after Yusuf Ali repaid the loan, the bank found that the pledged shares were allegedly fake and forged, according to the prosecution.
The case statement said Yusuf Ali obtained the loan facility by submitting counterfeit share documents with an intention to deceive the bank and misappropriated its funds.
It further alleged that Shawkat Ali, who identified Yusuf Ali during the account opening process, assisted him in the alleged fraud, resulting in the embezzlement of bank money through collusion.
The case was filed over allegations of fraud, forgery and financial misconduct involving the bank’s loan facility.
