MD among 5 to be sued Wednesday

DHAKA: Managing Director of state-owned Sonali Bank Pradip Kumar Dutta categorically said a case will be filed with Shahbagh Thana on Wednesday evening against five persons for their involvement in recent Hall-Mark Group loan scam.

The persons to be sued are Hall-Mark Group managing director Tanveer Mahmud, his wife Jesmin Islam, Sonali Bank Ruposhi Bangla Branch deputy general manager Azizur Rahman, assistant general manager Saiful Hasan and official Abdul Matin.

The parliamentary standing committee on Finance Ministry has already formed a committee to look into the loan scam of the little-known Hall-Mark Group.

Earlier, little-known Hallmark Group and five other companies have embezzled Tk 3,547 crore from state-run Sonali Bank with the help of bank’s high-ups.

A central bank probe found that Sonali Bank high-ups, including a deputy managing director, a general manager and the branch manager, were directly involved in the scam.

The amount embezzled by the six entities is equivalent to almost 15 percent of the total estimated cost of the $2.9 billion Padma bridge project.

Of Tk 3,547 crore, Hallmark Group alone took away Tk 2,686.14 crore, T and Brothers Tk 609.69 crore, Paragon Group Tk 146.60 crore, Nakshi Knit Tk 66.36 crore, DN Sports Tk 33.25 crore and Khanjahan Ali Tk 4.96 crore.

Of the six borrowers, Hallmark has been found to be the biggest fraudster.

On August 26, the central bank has directed Sonali Bank to suspend 31 of its officers including two deputy managing directors by August 30 for their involvement in the loan scam.

On August 27, BB issued a letter to the state-owned Bank asking to dissolve its present managing committee as they failed to monitor the Tk 3,547 crore loan scam of Hallmark group.

BDST: 1635 HRS, SEP 12, 2012
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor/ M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor/ SM Salahuddin, Output Editor