Arms case filed against the Hall-Mark boss
Tanvir Mahmud, managing director of Hall-Mark Group of Industries, and Tushar Ahmed, general manager of the company, were each placed on a 24-day remand in three cases over the Sonali Bank loan scam yesterday. The Hall-Mark MD was also placed on an additional five days’ remand in an arms case.
The Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka passed the orders upon petitions by the Anti-Corruption Commission and Pallabi police.
Tanvir and Tushar, a brother-in-law of Tanvir, face 11 cases filed by the ACC in connection with swindling Tk 1,568 crore out of state-owned Sonali Bank using fake documents and in violation of banking rules.
Of the sum, Tk 219.07 crore was taken in favour of Anwara Spinning Mills, Tk 219.60 crore in favour of Hall-Mark Fashion and Tk 45.48 crore in favour of Hall-Mark Group although none of these companies exist in reality, said the remand petitions in the three cases.
The ACC investigators in their petitions argued that the duo needed to be remanded for interrogation to know the whereabouts of the embezzled money and also the names of the other people involved in the scam.
The petitioners sought to take Tanvir and Tushar on 110 days’ remand in the 11 cases.
But the court could hear the remand petitions in three cases, court sources said, adding that hearing on the rest of the cases will be held on a later date.
The ACC on October 4 sued seven officials of the controversial Hall-Mark and 20 officials of Sonali Bank over the fraud.
According to an audit report, the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank had disbursed Tk 3,606 crore in loan to Hall-Mark and five other companies defying banking rules.
The Bangladesh Bank also revealed massive irregularities in sanctioning and disbursing of loans, especially to the little-known Hall-Mark.
During Sunday night’s arrest from a house in the capital’s Mirpur, Rapid Action Battalion recovered a foreign pistol, four bullets and a magazine from Tanvir’s possession, Rab’s media and legal wing Director Captain M Sohail told The Daily Star.
The elite force filed an arms case against Tanvir on the same night, said Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of Pallabi Police Station.
Pallabi police yesterday filed a petition to take Tanvir on a 10-day remand in the arms case but the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court granted five days’ remand.
Meanwhile, Subedar Mizanur Rahman of Rab-4 filed another case with Savar police against Tanvir, Tushar and 500 to 600 unknown people on charges of obstructing the law enforcers and attacking them.
Rab personnel came under attacks by several hundred guards of the company when the elite force went to arrest Tanvir at Hall-Mark factories in Savar early on Sunday, Savar police said.
TANVIR’S ARREST HAILED
Leading business associations yesterday hailed the arrest of Tanvir and Tushar.
“We applaud the government for arresting Tanvir Mahmud,” the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries said in a statement yesterday.
In the statement, nine chambers and associations urged the government to punish those who are involved in the scam directly and indirectly.
FBCCI, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Bangladesh Chamber of Industries signed the statement
Courtesy of The Daily Star
