Hallmark-Sonali Scam
Big names excluded
ACC probe report submitted
Names of several influential figures had come up in the Hall-Mark scam, yet none of them has been named as accused in the Anti-Corruption Commission’s probe report.
The investigation committee submitted its report to the ACC director general yesterday, raising questions about the investigation even from within the commission.
A top ACC official said the five Sonali Bank officials, who are accused in the cases filed in connection with the scam, have also been excluded.
One of the five is the bank’s General Manager ANM Mashrurul Huda. He has been relieved of the charges as he was the “whistleblower” of the incident. The four other names were not immediately available.
The report, however, included four Sonali Bank officials who were not named in the cases.
In October last year, the anti-graft body filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group on charges of misappropriating over Tk 1,568 crore from the state-run bank’s Sheraton Hotel (now Ruposhi Bangla) branch.
The sum, which was funded loan meaning given in cash, is part of the over Tk 2,600 crore credit that the controversial group in connivance with some bank officials swindled out of the bank using forged documents, according to the ACC investigation.
Seven of the accused in the original cases are Hall-Mark officials, including its owner Tanvir Mahmud. The rest are Sonali Bank officials, including its former managing director Humayun Kabir.
According to the ACC official who spoke on condition of anonymity, a powerful quarter had mounted pressure on the investigators not to include in the cases the names of some political figures, including prime minister’s Health Adviser Syed Modasser Ali. Some in the commission even tried to exclude the name of Humayun Kabir.
Modasser’s name first came up during the investigation, as he introduced Tanvir Mahmud with AKM Azizur Rahman, former manager of the branch. Azizur is considered the brains behind the scam.
A parliamentary committee also found that Modasser had tried to obstruct a Bangladesh Bank team from auditing the branch over the swindle.
The ACC investigation found the adviser had reached the branch minutes after the BB audit team had gone there around 12:00noon on April 4 last year. He then distributed his visiting cards among the members of the audit team.
“This is tantamount to obstructing the activities of the audit team,” Tajul Islam, convener of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry, told Modasser during questioning him on November 7 last year.
When Tajul asked him to explain why he had given his business cards to the auditors, Modasser avoided a direct reply, according to the House committee report.
Besides, Sonali Bank’s former board director and ruling Awami League leader Sarwar Chowdhury Kamol’s name came up in the scam.
Tanvir Mahmud in his confessional statement admitted that Kamol received Tk 3 crore in bribe to help him get the loan, according to court sources.
The probe report was prepared a few days ago, but it was not submitted until yesterday as some within the ACC could not agree on such a list of accused that excluded names of some influential persons, commission sources said.
Six ACC officers investigated the cases with Mir Mohammad Zainul Abedin Shibli, deputy director of the commission, as their coordinator.
-With The Daily Star input
