Dhaka: Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) today filed a case against businessman S Alam and 66 others for embezzling Taka nearly 10,500 crore from Islami Bank Limited and laundering a portion of the money to Singapore. Assistant Director (PR) of the Anti-graft body Md Tanzir Ahmed disclosed the information at a regular press briefing of the commission at its headquarters here.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the ACC filed the case against S Alam and 66 others for embezzling Taka 9,283.93 crore in the name of a loan and laundering a portion of the money to Singapore. The amount now stands at Taka 10,479.62 crore with profit and interest. The prominent accused include Mohammad Saiful Alam, Chairman of S Alam Group, his wife Farzana Parveen, his brothers Shahidul Alam and Rashedul Alam, former managing directors of the bank Md Mahbub-ul-Alam and Md Monirul Mawla, its former additional managing director Mohammad Kaiser Ali, and its former deputy managing director Taher Ahmed Chowdhury. Other accused include former directors of the bank, its former officers, and officials of the S Alam Group.
The ACC’s investigation revealed that S Alam Group extended its credit limit and tenure illegally through forgery in the bank software after taking control of the bank in 2017. The board of directors of the bank on September 7, 2020, had enhanced the credit limit of S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Limited to Taka 3,800 crore from Taka 2,400 crore, which was over 35 percent of the total capital of the bank. This decision violated section 26 Kha (1) of the Bank Company Act-1991 and BRPD circular of Bangladesh Bank.
The group also illegally transferred Taka 5,900 crore from the bank through software manipulation led by the then deputy managing director of the bank, Taher Ahmed Chowdhury. This money was credited to various fake establishments, including Ahsan Enterprise, Unique Traders, Aperture Trading, and Ansar Enterprise through 134 deals, and later transferred to S Alam Group-linked Global Trading Corporation, Sonali Traders, and S S Power Limited.
A total of Taka 290 crore equivalent to 2.35 crore and 80,000 US dollars was transferred to the Singapore Bank of China for the offshore account of S S Power-1 Limited owned by S Alam Group on December 5, 2023, which was a clear case of money laundering, according to the ACC official. The ACC, after a detailed investigation, lodged the case under sections 409/406/109/420/467/468/471/120(B) of Bangladesh Penal Code 1860, section-5(2) of the Corruption Prevention Act-1947, and sub-sections-2 and 3 under section-4 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act-2012.