HC seeks report on BASIC Bank scam case
The High Court yesterday directed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Bangladesh Bank authorities to submit their investigation reports on BASIC Banks loan fraud in four weeks. It also asked the central bank to submit a separate investigation report on the activities of the board of directors of the state-owned bank. The HC bench, comprising Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Mahmudul Hoque, gave the order during a rule hearing issued by it earlier over the matter.
On November 16, in response to a writ petition, the High Court issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain within four weeks why the ACC chief should not be directed to implicate BASIC Banks former Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and its ex-board members in a Tk 154 crore loan scam case.
It also asked the ACC Chairman, Finance Secretary, Bangladesh Bank Governor and Managing Director of BASIC Bank, made respondents to the rule, to show cause why the ACC chief should not be ordered to conduct further investigation into the loan scam in the interest of justice.
The writ petition was filed as Public Interest Litigation by retired banker Harun-ur-Rashid from Begumganj of Noakhali. A Bangladesh Bank probe found loan frauds worth Tk 4,500 crore upon inspection at BASIC Banks Gulshan, Shantinagar and Dilkusha branches. The bank lent around Tk 5,500 crore during Bachchus tenure between 2009 and 2013, most of which were approved and disbursed on inadequate documents and inflated mortgages. The ACC filed 56 cases over the loan irregularities of the bank, but the banks former Chairman Abdul Hye Bachchu was not charged in any of the cases. The cases came after the ACCs enquiry into the Tk 4,500 crore BASIC Bank scam couldnt find Bacchus involvement in it. Bacchu allegedly masterminded the biggest banking fraud in Bangladesh. Advocate ZI Khan Panna and Barrister Muntasir Uddin Ahmed appeared for the writ petitioner, while Advocate Shafiqul Islam represented the ACC during the rule hearing.
