Submit BASIC Bank scam probe reports

The High Court yesterday directed the Anti-Corruption Commission and Bangladesh Bank to submit their probe reports on BASIC Bank loan scam.

The anti-graft watchdog has been given seven days and the central bank four weeks to present the reports.

The court also asked the authorities of the state-owned BASIC Bank to submit its documents on the decisions taken by its board of directors for granting loans to different institutions.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Mahmudul Haque came up with the order after hearing a writ seeking further investigation into the loan scam, ZI Khan Panna, counsel for petitioner Harun-or-Rashid of Noakhali, told The Daily Star.

In his petition filed on November 12, Harun said 57 cases had been lodged over the BASIC Bank loan scam, but Abdul Hye Bacchu, former chairman of the bank, and the board members responsible for the scam were not implicated in any of them.

He prayed to the court to direct the ACC to implicate them in the cases.

One of the best-run banks until 2009, the BASIC Bank was mired in financial irregularities following Bacchu's appointment as its chairman that year.

Early last year, a functional audit by the bank outright blamed the more than Tk 5,000 crore.

In its inspections in 2012-13, Bangladesh Bank too had found his complicity in the embezzlement. The irregularities that it identified include no verification of loan-seekers' creditworthiness, absence of the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures and approving loans to defaulters.

After long investigations, the ACC in September last year filed cases against several BASIC officials. However, neither Bacchu, who is believed to be at the centre of the scam, nor any of the then board members was accused in any of the cases.