The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday sued former foreign minister M Morshed Khan, his wife Nasrin Khan and 14 others for allegedly embezzling over Tk 383 crore of AB Bank between 2011 and 2015.

ACC Deputy Director Sheikh Abdus Salam filed the case with Banani Police Station.

Morshed is the chairman and Nasrin is a director of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL). The other accused include PBTL Vice Chairman Asghar Karim, its Chief Executive Officer Mehboob Chowdhury, three former managing directors of AB Bank Kaiser Ahmed Chowdhury, Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, M Fazlur Rahman, and current MD of the bank Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury.

The remaining accused in the case are officials of the bank.

According to the case statement, AB Bank unlawfully guaranteed loans of Tk 348.5 crore given to PBTL by eight other banks and non-bank financial institutions. The board and other top officials of AB Bank approved the move without taking any collateral from PBTL, in violation of the rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank.

As the guarantor, AB Bank was bound to pay off the loans with the interest -- over Tk 383 crore -- after the borrower failed to repay the money in a year.

Of Tk 348.5 crore loan money, PBTL took Tk 50 crore from IFIC Bank, Tk 10 crore from Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Tk 23 crore from Saudi Bangladesh Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company, Tk 30 crore from Pubali Bank, Tk 47 crore from Phoenix Finance and Investment, Tk 50 crore from NCC Bank, Tk 38.5 crore from City Bank and Tk 100 crore from Dhaka Bank.

Most of these loans were taken between 2012 and 2013, according to the ACC investigation.

Mehboob on behalf of PBTL had applied to AB Bank's Mohakhali branch so that the bank became the guarantor. The branch then sent the proposal to the bank's headquarters without examining the application properly. Later, the top brass of the bank approved the application without any assessment and ignoring the rules and regulations of the central bank, alleges the graft watchdog. 

Misusing the guarantee, PBTL in a planned way took away Tk 348.5 crore from the eight banks and institutions, reads the ACC case statement.

When PBTL failed to repay the loan within a year, the lenders asked AB Bank to give them the pay and eventually, the bank paid the money by 2015.

In its investigation ACC found that Morshed, his wife Nasrin, Asghar, Mehboob and top bank officials collaboratively gained financial benefits from the transactions, added the statement.

Contacted, M Wahidul Haque, who has been the chairman of AB Bank since December 12, 2007, defended the board's position on the matter.

“We [board] approved the [application for the] guarantee based on the recommendations from the [bank] management,” he told The Daily Star over phone.

Wahidul also denied the ACC allegation that the bank was not given any collateral. He claimed the bank had got Tk 350 crore as the collateral.

This newspaper tried to contact many of the accused but none of them was ready to respond to queries.