ACC quizzes 5 more Janata Bank officials as witnesses

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday interrogated five more senior officials of Janata Bank as witnesses in a graft case filed over Tk 250 crore loan scam.

ACC Deputy Director Jahangir Alam talked to the five officials for about five hours as part of its investigation into the loan scam at its head office in the capital, according to ACC sources.

The five witnesses of the bank are former deputy general managers--Ayat Ali and Md Nurul Alin--and former general mangers --Md Serajul Islam, Nur Mohammad and Md Manzurul Islam.

On Tuesday, five other bank officials were also interrogated in connection with the loan scam.

On February 18, 2016, the ACC filed the case against four bank officials, including a general manager of Janata Bank, and another for allegedly swindling out over Tk 250 crore from the bank through opening letters of credit (LCs) to a fake company.

The case was filed against Janata Bank General Manger M Manzurul Alam, its former assistant general manger Shamim Ahmed Khan, senior executive officer of local office Mashiur Rahman, assistant general manger ASM Zahirul Islam and owner of M/s Dhaka Trading House M Tipu Sultan.

According to the first information report (FIR), five officials of the bank, including the four accused and former general manager Md Aminul Islam, opened seven LCs against a fake company, M/s Dhaka Trading House, for importing sugar and chickpeas during November 2010 to April 2012.

But, M/s Dhaka Trading House did not import any goods. And all the five bank officials along with the accused Tipu Sultan embezzled over Tk 250 crore released from the bank against the LCs. As Aminul Islam died, his name has been dropped from the case.