ACC summons SBAC Bank officials

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has summoned South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce (SBAC) Bank’s former managing director Rafiqul Islam and eight other senior officials of over an embezzlement probe. 

Recently, SBAC Bank Chairman SM Amjad Hossain has been accused of a Tk30 crore loan scam. 

According to an ACC official, the officials would be interrogated over corruption and irregularities in sanctioning the loans to unverified organizations.

The nine officials have been asked to appear before the investigators on Sunday, according to a senior official.

The eight others are Management Trainee Officer Topu Kumar Saha, Senior Officer Bidyut Kumar Mondol, Assistant Vice President and Operations Manager Monjur Alam, Vice President and Branch Chief SM Iqbal Mehedi, Senior Executive Officer Khaled Musaraf, First Vice President Ziaul Latif, Senior Executive Vice President Mamunur Rashid Mulla, and Deputy Managing Director Shaukot Ali.

The commission has gathered information from various sources including the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit's report (BFIU).

The ACC probe team discovered that the SBAC chairman embezzled in the name of a non-existent institution, Khulna Builders Limited, as well as in the names of bank employees.

BFIU reported that SBAC chairman also embezzled government money during his tenure by misusing power.

On March 11, the BFIU requested the bank to freeze the accounts of Hossain, his wife Begum Sufia Amjad, and their daughter Tajori for 30 days, even though Hossain owns 3.21% share of the bank.

Previously, on January 7, the commission put a restriction on the family barring them from traveling overseas.