Hallmark loan scam: Chairman, MD indicted in 2 cases

A Dhaka court today indicted 19 people including Hallmark Chairman Jasmine Islam and Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud in two out of 11 cases filed for swindling over Tk 437 crore out of Sonali Bank.

Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah of Senior Special Judge's Court framed the charges for the first time after rejecting discharge petitions filed by seven of the accused including Tanvir and Jasmine.

But the court could not frame charges against them in nine other cases as Tushar Ahmed, one of the accused, submitted nine separate petitions seeking adjournment of the hearing.

The other cases were filed against Jasmine, Tanvir and others for swindling over Tk 2100 crore out of Sonali Bank.

Of the accused, two people including Jasmine are now on bail while five others including Tanvir are in jail. Twelve others have been absconding.

Jasmine, Tanvir and five others pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after the charges were read to them today. The court set March 3 to start the trial of the cases. The court also fixed the same date for the hearing on the charges framed against the others in nine cases.

On October 7, 2013, the Anti-Corruption Commission pressed charges against 25 people in 11 cases for swindling over Tk 2,600 crore out of Sonali Bank.

Some Sonali Bank officials of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Branch were also charged with the incident.

After their arrest, two Sonali Bank officials died and their names were dropped from the cases.

However, the anti-corruption watchdog found no involvement of the bank's board of directors in the largest-ever loan scam in the country’s banking industry, though some of the scammers have given confessional statements in court that they had "managed" the broad by bribing.

During the investigation, Tanvir gave a confessional statement saying that he had handed Tk 3 crore to Taslim Hasan, another accused in the scam, to bribe the board of directors.

The Bangladesh Bank unearthed the over Tk 3,500 crore loan scam in Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch in May 2012. Of the sum, Hall-Mark alone took Tk 2,686 crore using forged documents in connivance with some bank officials.

Later, the central bank handed over the issue to the ACC. Then in October 2012, the anti-graft body filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark Group on charges of misappropriating more than Tk 1,568 crore.

The ACC findings show that Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch gave Hall-Mark Tk 1,568.49 crore in funded loan (money given in cash) between October 2011 and May 2012.