Sonali Bank board of directors on Monday decided to file a number of cases against Hallmark Group with Artha Rin Adalat and other civil courts in a bid to recover Tk 2,554 crore embezzled by the group. The board made the decision in a meeting and the bank will file a number of cases against the companies concerned of Hallmark Group which embezzled around Tk 3,000 crore with the help of some officials of Sonali Bank.
Sonali Bank director Zaid Bakht told New Age on Monday that the bank would file the cases within this month in a bid to recover the swindled money by Hallmark Group.
This is for the first time Sonali Bank will file the cases against Hallmark Group’s managing director Tanvir Mahmud along with related persons involved in the embezzlement which was unearthed in 2012.
Tanvir and other Hallmark officials along with a number of high officials of Sonali Bank have already faced criminal cases by the Anti-Corruption Commission for embezzlement of the money.
An investigation by Bangladesh Bank revealed that the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank had lent Hallmark Group and five other companies Tk 3,606.48 crore in between 2010 and May 2012 on the basis of fake documents.
A high official of Sonali Bank told New Age that in the first phase the bank would file civil cases against Hallmark Group to recover the money and then they would go for five other companies.
The funded and non-funded liabilities of Hallmark with the bank stand at around Tk 2,554 crore as the bank has so far recovered around Tk 500 crore, he said.
-With New Age input
