Hallmark Loan Scam
ACC grills five more Sonali Bank officials
The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday interrogated five more officials of Sonali Bank about the alleged misappropriation of Tk 3,500 crore by the Hallmark Group.
They are Sonali Bank’s deputy general managers Hadayet Ullah, Sabita Seraj, HM Ghulam Nabi Manik, Ashraf Ali Patwari, and senior executive Wahid Uddin Ahmed.
Emerging from the Anti-Corruption Commission’s office where she was interrogated in connection with Hallmark-Sonali Bank scam, Sabita told reporters she had furnished the commission with documents and information, but she did not make any comment about the interrogation.
ACC deputy director Mir Joynul Abedin Shibli interrogated them for six hours from 9:30am at the ACC headquarters, its public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told reporters.
An official of the ACC said that they would now interrogate Hallmark Group’s managing director Tanvir Mahmud and his wife Jasmine Islam, also chairman of the group, and general manager Tushar Ahmed on September 2.
The Commission already interrogated 22 Sonali Bank officials and four Hallmark Group officials on their alleged connection with this scam.
The Sonali Bank officials who were already interrogated include Sonali Bank general managers Noni Gopal Nath, Mir Mohidur Rahman and Mihir Chandra Mazumder, Sonali Bank Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch’s officials Wahiduzzman and Sayedur Rahman, suspended Rupashi Bangla branch’s manager AKM Azizur Rahman, branch officers Saiful Hasan, Abdul Matin, Ujjal Kishore Dhar and Ukil Uddin Ahmed.
The Hallmark Group officials already interrogated are Anwar Spinning Mills managing director Jahangir Alam, Century International Ltd managing director Ziaur Rahman, Max Spinning Mills managing director Mir Zakaria and Star Spinning Mills managing director Abdul Basher.
On August 19, the Bangladesh Bank asked Sonali Bank to suspend 31 of its officials by August 30 for their alleged involvement in the illegal lending of Tk 3,547 crore to little-known Hallmark Group and five other companies.
A BB letter sent to the managing director and chief executive officer of Sonali Bank said that Saiful Shamsul Alam & Co, a chartered accountancy firm, had recently completed a functional audit of the illegal lending by the state-owned bank in which 32 of its officials had been found to be involved.
The ACC, after receiving a letter from Bangladesh Bank on July 15, formed a six-member investigation committee headed by its deputy director Mir Joynal Abedin Shibli.
Courtesy of New Age
