Directors, businessmen 'at large', bankers in jail
None of the BASIC Bank directors, who were on the board when a big scam took place in the bank, have been brought to book.
Worse, the government has rewarded a number of them with promotions and new assignments.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had nabbed a number of businessmen involved in the scam, but all of them are out on bail now. Some of them even fled the country as soon as they got the bail.
A number of bankers who had been found involved in the irregularities, however, are behind the bars.
The mastermind of the scam, the bank's former chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, remains at large. He was summoned by the ACC on 4 and 6 December and 8 January, but nothing more than that.
During Bacchu's tenure as the chairman (2009-2014), the bank was robbed off around Tk 45 billion. In 2009, the bank's default loan was five per cent, which rose to 68 per cent in 2014.
The board of directors was behind the irregularities but the government gave the bank a subsidy of Tk 30 billion. However, the bank is still languishing in a sorry state.
The ACC has till date filed 59 cases in relation to the scam. Still, none have been against the board members.
A total of 120 people were framed in those cases, including 82 businessmen, 27 bankers and 11 surveyors. Among them, the ACC has so far arrested 10 businessmen, five bankers and a surveyor.
The board the government had named on 10 September in 2009 led by the then chairman Bachchu is mainly responsible for the bank's downfall.
Shuvashish Basu and Nilfufar Ahmed, two DGs (director general) at the prime minister's office, the education ministry's additional secretary Razia Begum, BISCIC chairman Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman and the finance ministry's joint secretary Bijoy Bhattacharya were among the directors named on the board that day.
Chandpur Chamber of Commerce president Jahangir Akhand Selim, former tax commissioner Shakhawat Hossain, Kustia Islamic University's accounting and information systems department chairman Qazi Akhter Hossain and ARS Lube Bangladesh managing director Anwarul Islam were also named on the board the same day.
BASIC Bank sources say Shuvashish Basu was later promoted to the vice chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The moment the irregularities were taking place, he was the EPB's vice chairman and a director of the bank. At present, he is the commerce secretary.
Soon after being named a director, Bijoy Bhattacharya was made the economic minister at the permanent mission of Bangladesh in Geneva. On his return, he was promoted to the rank of an additional secretary. He is now a vice chairman of EPB.
When Bijoy Bhattacharya left for Geneva, joint secretary to the finance ministry's Economic Relations Division Kamrunnahar Ahmed was made a director at the bank. She was on the board during the time the irregularities were committed. She was later promoted to the rank of an additional secretary.
Soon after being named a director, Razia Begum was made the secretary to women and children's affairs ministry. On 31 July in 2010, Razia and BISCIC chairman Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman were killed in a road accident in Manikganj on their way to Tungipara to attend the inauguration of a branch.
When additional secretary Fakhrul Islam was made the BISCIC chairman, he was also made a director of BASIC Bank. Later he was made the chairman of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority while you continued to serve the bank as a director.
Another director of the bank, Shyamsundar Sikder was later made the chairman of BISIC. He was later promoted to the secreary of information and communication ministry. At present, he is the secretary of the posts and telecommunications ministry.
During those five years, Anis Ahmed, assistant editor of Uttaran, the mouthpiece of the ruling Awami League, certified accountant Quamrul Islam and former additional secretary AKM Rezaur Rahman were also on the bank's board.
Anis is the news editor of Uttaran now. Rezaur Rahman and Quamrul Islam could not enter the bank since July 2013 after they had tried to report the irregularities carried out by chairman Bachchu.
Anwarul Islam, managing director of ARS Lube Bangladesh, was made a presidium member of the Jubo League three years after he was made a director of the bank. He claimed that he and some other directors had always been kept in the dark in the board meetings.
Foyezun Nabi Chowdhury, managing director of Farsi International, swindled Tk 550 million from the bank. He was arrested in two cases filed by the ACC on 28 March in 2016 and two months later his appeal for a bail was rejected by a lower court. On 30 May, he was freed on a six-month bail. Soon he left the country. Md Akbar Hossain, the owner of Asian Shipping BD, is also out on bail.
Businessman Syed Hasibul Ghani alias Galib also took Tk 1.32 billion from the bank, in the name of different establishments, but he never returned the money. He was arrested in four cases on 28 March in 2016. He also left the country soon after getting bail.
Other businessmen, including Yasir Ahmed Khan of Vasavi Fashions (Tk 680 million), Kamal Jamal Molla of Tahmina Denim and Tahmina Knitwear (Tk 550 million), Md Sabir Hossain of ARSS International (Tk 850 million) and Md Saiful Islam of Nahar Garden (Tk 300 million), have secured bail from the High Court.
On 26 July in 2017, a joint bench of justice M Enayetur Rahim and justice Sahidul Karim ordered the investigation be completed in 60 days. It was only then the ACC moved to quiz Bachchu.
However, commerce secretary Shuvashish Basu has requested to change the date of the hearing on a number of occasions, so the ACC is yet to speak to him.
Among the 27 bankers framed in the cases, former MD Qazi Fakhrul Islam was Bachchu's main accomplice. Near the end of 2010, AKM Sajedur Rahman resigned as the MD and the then deputy managing director (DMD) Sheikh Manzur Morshed was made the acting MD. Soon Fakhrul took over and he was at the helm till he was removed in May 2014.
The ACC in January 2016 arrested DMDs Md Fazlus Sobhan and Md Selim. The same month Gulshan branch's in-charge Shipar Ahmed was arrested, followed by assistant manager Ikramul Bari in March and general manager Joynal Abedin in April.
However, none of them could secure a bail in the last two years.
ACC chairman Iqbal Mahmud said he had nothing to say about only the bankers being put behind the bars. The level of the crimes of the directors will be assessed once the hearings end and the ACC will then act accordingly, he added.
"There had been looting at the BASIC Bank, to say the least. Now if the directors are untouched and the businessmen are out on bail whereas the bankers are left to languish in jail, you can call it tyranny, oligarchy or plutocracy," said lawyer Tanjeeb Ul Alam, an expert on bank and company law.
Financial experts say bringing the likes of Bachchu to book is a must to save the banking sector. Or else the public will lose trust in the sector, which will hit the economy hard.
*The article, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Quamrul Hassan.