The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 16 individuals, including Bashundhara Group and Bashundhara Import Export Limited Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and his sons, Sadat Sobhan and Safiat Sobhan. In addition, senior officials of National Bank PLC, have also been included among the accused on allegations of loan fraud and embezzlement of Tk1,350 crore at National Bank PLC.
Md Akhtar Hossain, the Director General of the ACC, confirmed this information to journalists on Wednesday.
ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain said the accused, in collusion with each other for dishonest purposes, violated the bank’s established rules and regulations and approved a total of Tk1,350 crore in loans in the name of Bashundhara Import Export Limited – Tk600 crore funded and Tk750 crore non-funded.
For the loan approval, serious irregularities were willfully ignored, such as insufficient collateral, lack of proper verification of personal and corporate guarantees, incomplete charge creation documents, absence of fortnightly stock reports, not assessing the client’s capacity, and ignoring previous loan liabilities.
The ACC complaint notes that false financial statements were prepared by showing a net profit of Tk393.15 crore in the very first year in the competitive market of essential goods, and subsequent growth of 22.56 percent and 8.97 percent over the next two years. Even though the client had loans of Tk 629.16 crore from other banks, this was not reviewed.
Furthermore, loans were approved by concealing that the client lacked a credit rating, had no factory and business inspection reports, no previous import-export information, and in the case of establishments under the Bashundhara Group, the “Single Borrower Exposure Limit” was exceeded. The Bank Company Act 1991, Bangladesh Bank directives, and National Bank’s own Credit Risk Management Policy were also violated.
The ACC claims that the Tk600 crore funded loan was embezzled in collusion without being repaid. Subsequently, this money was laundered by transferring, coordinating, and withdrawing it from accounts of several establishments including Rainbow Builders, and by paying staff salaries of East West Property Development (Pvt) Ltd, conducted through the Bashundhara branch of Social Islami Bank.
Major accused in the case include Bashundhara Group and Bashundhara Import Export Limited Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, MD Sadat Sobhan, and Director Safiat Sobhan.
Also named as accused are 7 directors of National Bank PLC Monoara Sikdar, Parvin Haque Sikdar, Moazzem Hossain, Rick Haque Sikdar, Ron Haque Sikdar, Md Anwar Hossain, AKM Enamul Haque Shamim.
Other bank officials accused are Vice Presidents Hasina Sultana and Mohammad Kamrul Hasan Mithu, Senior EVP & Manager Arif Md Shahidul Haque, Senior AVP Anisul Haque, Sultana Parvin, and Subal Chandra Roy.
The ACC has approved the case against them under sections 420/409/109 of the Penal Code, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, and sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012.
