Bacchu quizzed over BASIC Bank scam

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) today quizzed former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu over Tk 4,500 crore loan scam.

ACC Deputy Director Shamsul Alam quizzed him for almost three hours starting from 10:00am, Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, public relations officer of ACC told The Daily Star.

After the quizzing, Bacchu got out of the ACC premises around 1:00pm and avoided the press.

Bacchu was first quizzed on December 4. On March 8, he was quizzed for the 4th time.

According to a Bangladesh Bank enquiry, about Tk 4,500 crore was siphoned out of the state-run bank between 2010 and 2013 when Bacchu chaired its board.

On July 14, 2014, the central bank sent a report on the scam to the ACC, detailing how people embezzled money from the bank through shell companies and dubious accounts.

The BB found that Bacchu illegally influenced all the activities of the bank, leaving the once-sound institution in a grave state.

In 2015, the ACC had filed the 56 cases over the scam. However, Bacchu was not made accused in any of the cases.