5 bank officials held for embezzling gold jewellery worth 11.4C

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested five out of nine accused bank officials of Bangladesh Samabaya Bank Limited (BSBL) for embezzling gold jewellery worth Tk11.40 crore from the bank customers.

ACC Deputy Director Mohammad Ibrahim, also the plaintiff in the case, arrested them from the Segunbagicha area in Dhaka on Tuesday. The accused were charged under section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

The accused are Chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed alias Mohi; Deputy General Manager (DGM) Abdul Alim; Assistant General Manager (AGM- Accounts) Hedayet Kabir; Assistant General Manager (Gold Mortgage Loan Division) Md Ashfaquzzaman; Former Principal Officer Md Mahabubul Haque; Principal Officer Md Omar Farooq; Senior Officer (Cash) Nur Mohammad Abdur Rahim, Assistant Officer (Grade-1) Abdur Rahim; and Assistant Officer (Grade-1) Nahida Akhter. 

Five of the accused, namely Abdul Alim, Hedayet Kabir, Omar Farooq, Nur Mohammad, and Md Mahbubul Haque were arrested from Segunbagicha on Tuesday.

According to the ACC investigation, in February, last year, the bank authorities formed a cooperative society with close to 2,000 members in Dhaka and Narayanganj.

Later, a total of 7,400 bhori of gold worth Tk22 crore of this cooperative society was mortgaged at the main branch of BSBL in Motijheel.

Of those total 1,981 customers, the officials concerned returned the money – a sum decided against the mortgaged amount of gold and international gold prices – to only 120. 

The rest of the gold was embezzled by the accused bank officials as the customer names, signatures, and NID information shown in the transaction papers were fabricated and false, found the ACC investigation.