Dhaka: The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) today filed eight cases against 86 officials, including directors of United Commercial Bank (UCB), for the alleged misappropriation of Tk.56.15 crore, which appeared as fake loans. 'The accused ex-officials and employees of UCB opened current accounts in the name of eight fake organizations and misappropriated Tk.56.15 crore through different branches of the bank,' ACC spokesman Md Aktarul Islam said.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, as well as former UCB directors Anisuzzaman Chowdhury and Bashir Ahmed, were implicated in the scam along with their syndicate. The evidence suggested that the accused opened current accounts at Chawkbazar, Port, Pahartali, and Bahaddarhat branches of the bank under the names of eight fictitious companies.
The fraudulent companies listed include Asia Enterprise, Moon Enterprise, Islam Enterprise, Sun-Sign Enterprise, Alam Enterprise, Jupiter Enterprise, Nazim and Sons, and Al-Razi Enterprise. The ACC revealed that significant amounts of money were embezzled as loans under these names.
The breakdown of the embezzlements includes Tk.8.0 crore at the Chawkbazar branch under Asia Enterprise, Tk.7.0 crore under Moon Enterprise, Tk.6.0 crore under Islam Enterprise, and Tk.8.0 crore under Sun-Sign Enterprise. Furthermore, Tk.44 million was embezzled under Alam Enterprises, Tk.90 million under Jupiter Enterprises, Tk.93 million under Nazim and Sons, and Tk.30 million under Al-Razi Enterprises.
The cases were filed under Sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 109 of the Penal Code 1860, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, and Sections 4(2) and (3) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2012.