Tk 1,114cr embezzlement: ACC sues two sons of S Alam, 52 others

The Anti-Corruption Commission has lodged a case against 54 individuals, including Ahsanul Alam and Ashraful Alam, sons of S Alam Group Chairman Mohammad Saiful Alam, over allegations of misappropriating about Tk 1,114 crore from Islami Bank's Jubilee Road branch in Chattogram.
S Alam Group owned as much as 82 percent stakes in Islami Bank, documents show, but the conglomerate maintained that it had 32 percent stakes.
Among those sued are Golam Kibria Chowdhury, owner of M/s United Super Traders; Mohammed Monirul Moula, former managing director of the bank; Qaiser Ali and KQMH Habibullah, former additional MDs; Sohel Aman and Shahadat Hossain, former managers of the Jubilee Road branch. The rest are bank officials.
According to the case statement, the embezzlement was orchestrated by Ahsanul and Ashraful by showing his relatives and employees as owners of different companies in the last three years.
Key accused Golam Kibria was shown as a supplier. He and the owners of other companies, in collusion with top bank officials, embezzled the money, said the case statement.
In one instance, United Super Traders secured a loan of Tk 890 crore on December 15, 2021. However, no goods were bought or sold against the loan.
Fake documents facilitated the withdrawal, distribution and laundering of the funds.
The loan ceiling was later raised to Tk 1,000 crore through further irregularities. By December 5, 2023, Tk 995 crore had been withdrawn under 28 deals, violating banking policies and Islami Bank's Shariah principles.
In 2023, fake purchase and sale documents were used to withdraw an additional Tk 181 crore through four new deals.
Between 2022 and 2023, 32 non-adjusted deals worth Tk 1,074.89 crore were issued in favour of United Super Traders from the branch, the case statement said.
Later, fake documents were prepared showing Tk 13.50 crore was paid in January and February last year.
As of October 2 last year, the misappropriated amount stood at Tk 993.70 crore in principal loans and Tk 120.23 crore in profits, totalling Tk 1,113.93 crore, the statement added.
Earlier in August last year, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur said the central bank would take over all the shares of S Alam in Islami Bank against its liabilities as per law.
The Chattogram-based business giant, which was a big beneficiary of the Awami League regime, can get back the shares if it repays the amount it owes the Shariah-based bank.
Between 2017 and June last year, S Alam Group and its associates' companies took Tk 74,900 crore, which is 47 percent of Islami's total outstanding loans as of March, by violating banking rules and regulations, documents show.
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