Tk 1.9 crore stolen from Janata Bank

An executive of Janata Bank embezzled Tk 1.9 crore from interest on fixed deposits with the state-run bank in yet another incident of financial crime in the country's banking system. 

Soon after joining the bank in 2013, Razibul Hasan, executive officer of the bank's local office in the capital's Motijheel, started to debit the interest incomes from clients' fixed deposits and credited the funds to two false accounts, said sources at the bank.

A fixed deposit is a financial instrument of banks, which provides investors with interest higher than that of a regular savings account.

Hasan had been withdrawing money through vouchers for a long time. It came to the notice of the FDR department on Sunday afternoon when it found discrepancy in various fixed deposit accounts.

The bank's vigilance department detained Hasan at the bank office on Monday.  Following a grilling, he confessed to the crime, said the sources.

A team from the department then raided his house in Dhanmondi and found Tk 88 lakh in a sack. It also found Tk 15 lakh in his drawer at the local office.

In total, Tk 1.58 crore was recovered from his house, office drawer and accounts, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

In order to get back the rest of the money, the bank has taken an advance cheque from the banker and also the documents of a Rayer Bazar apartment purchased under his wife's name.

The bank suspended Hasan temporarily yesterday and filed a lawsuit with Motijheel Police Station against him, said the statement.

The crime is the latest to hit the country's state banks. Earlier, financial irregularities involving thousands of crores of taka at banks, including BASIC Bank and Sonali Bank, shook the country's banking sector.

Janata Bank Managing Director Md Abdus Salam said, “Clients will not be affected because of the embezzlement.”

The bank's vigilance team detected the fraudulence and recovered most of the stolen money, he said.