Investigation into BASIC bank scam

Three and a half years have elapsed since the BASIC bank scam took place and a new board was placed at its helm after the removal of its chairman and the board. We find that the new committee is yet to identify seven borrowers but some progress has been made in identifying some 50 ghost accounts that have been used by many borrowers who took money and defaulted on these amounts. Although there is ample evidence of violation of rules in approving these loans, and 628 firms have been identified that owed the bank Tk 6,538 crore till June 30, it is disheartening to learn that there has been little progress in realising these vast sums of money.

A ruling party lawmaker who sits on the new board has stated that many of these borrowers are both politically and socially influential and some members belong to various political parties. As for the bank itself, it has published a list of defaulters and what is owed by whom to the bank. But the legal battle against defaulters is progressing at a snail's pace as most of the accused have filed writ petitions with the High Court.

We would like to know why it took the new management one and a half years to identify the main culprits and why the former chairman of the bank, who is known to have violated rules while granting loans, is not being held accountable. If this is going to be the result of the probe where influential defaulters get to keep their names off the list of accused and where the principal alleged culprit is not investigated, then the matter is effectively being swept under the carpet and we are in effect, giving a green light to future scams.