Bismillah Group Scam
ACC probe team submits report
An Anti-Corruption Commission probe team on Sunday submitted it report on Bismilla Group’s embezzlement of Tk 1,200 crore from five banks.
Probe team leader ACC deputy director Syed Iqbal Hassain submitted the report to the ACC director general. He sought the permission to sue over 40 persons, 10 Bismillah Group bosses and 30 bank officials for their alleged involvement with embezzlement of around Tk 900 crore funded part of the money from five banks, an ACC official told New Age.
It took the five-member team eight months to probe into the allegations, he said.
He said that the ACC would sue at least 30 bank officials and 10 Bismillah Group bosses including its
director Khwaja Solaiman Anwar Choudhury, chairperson and Solaiman’s wife Nowrin Hasib, director and Solaiman’s father Safiqul Anwar Choudhury, general manager (accounts) Abul Hossain Choudhury and director Moinuddin Saki, all abroad.
Solaiman is hiding in Dubai, Nowrin and Safiqul in the US, Abul Hossain in Malaysia and Moinuddin in Germany, he said.
Until now, he said, the probe team interrogated 100 persons including Jamil Hasan Durjoy, son of Awami League lawmaker Rahmat Ali, and Mohammad Ali, son of AL lawmaker Subid Ali Bhuiyan, over the matter, he said.
The probe team will start investigation into the non-funded part of about Tk 300 crore after filing the cases regarding the funded part, he said.
He said that the investigators found evidence that the Bismillah Group had embezzled another sum of Tk 175 crore from Janata Bank’s Maghbazar branch.
It shows, he said, the Bismillah Group embezzled a total amount of Tk 568.25 crore from the state owned Janata Bank.
The ACC probe followed the exposure of Bismillah Group’s embezzlement in connivance with the bank officials.
The group embezzled Tk 392.57 crore from Janata Bank, Tk 306.22 crore from Prime Bank, Tk 163.79 crore from Jamuna Bank, Tk 148.79 crore from Shahjalal Islami Bank and Tk 62.97 crore from Premier Bank in three years, he said.
The probe team found that the Bismillah Group had embezzled a total of amount Tk 1,200 crore.
Formed on February 26, the probe team includes ACC assistant directors Tawfiqul Islam and Gulshan Anower Prodhan, and deputy assistant directors Sarder Masur Ahmed and Al Amin.
-With New Age input
