The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday filed a case against 67 people, including S Alam Group chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam and his wife Farzana Parvin, on charges of embezzling Tk聽10,479 crore from Islami Bank Bangladesh and laundering a portion of the money to Singapore.
The commission鈥檚 assistant director, Abul Kalam Azad, filed the case with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1, said ACC deputy director for public relations Aktarul Islam.
鈥業n the history of ACC, it is the biggest case in terms of amount of the embezzled money,鈥� he added.
According to the case statement, the accused, Saiful Alam, along with 66 other accused, in collusion with each other, disregarded the rules, policies and circulars issued from time to time by Islami Bank Bangladesh and Bangladesh Bank.
Islami Bank Bangladesh approved and disbursed loans in favour of S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Ltd, S Alam Steels Ltd and S Alam Trading Company Ltd against insufficient collateral, without considering the high amount of existing loans mentioned in the CIB report, and despite the borrowers鈥� business turnover being inconsistent with the sanctioned loan limits, it said.
The accused committed fraud, forgery and deception to obtain loans amounting to Tk 9,283.63 crore, which currently stands at Tk 10,479.62 crore, including profit and interest, by abusing their authority and breaching their fiduciary duties, said the case statement.
Subsequently, Saiful Alam transferred, diverted and laundered the funds to various entities related to his personal and business interests through corruption, it said.
During the inquiry, it was found that after S Alam Group took control of Islami Bank Bangladesh in 2017, massive irregularities occurred in the bank鈥檚 investment operations.
On September 7, 2020, the bank鈥檚 board of directors increased the loan limit of S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Limited from Tk聽2,400 crore to Tk聽3,800 crore, thereby exceeding 35 per cent of the bank鈥檚 capital and violating the Bank Company Act, 1991, as well as the single borrower exposure provision under the central bank鈥檚 banking regulation and policy department circular.
Despite the borrower company having high liabilities in its CIB report and an ICRRS score below 50 per cent鈥攎aking loan enhancement unacceptable 鈥� the loan limits were repeatedly increased, in clear violation of the guidelines issued through another BRPD circular.
Even though the borrower鈥檚 business income and performance were unsatisfactory, and the collateral coverage was only 40鈥�70 per cent, the bank continued to approve renewals and enhancements of the loans, thereby putting the bank鈥檚 and depositors鈥� funds at serious risk.
Since 2017, Saiful Alam had allegedly appointed relatives and officials loyal to him to key positions in the bank, allowing him to exert influence over the bank鈥檚
investment administration, information technology division and board of directors.
Under the leadership of former deputy managing director Taher Ahmed Chowdhury, unauthorised increases in loan limits and changes to loan terms were allegedly made through manipulation of the software in the information, communication and technology wing branch, resulting in the transfer of about Tk聽5,900 crore.
During the inquiry, examination of the records revealed that through 134 transactions, Tk聽9,283.93 crore was transferred to name-only (paper) entities such as Ahsan Enterprise, Impress Corporation, Aperture Trading, Unique Traders & Business House, Agrocorp International, United Super Traders, Ahsan Enterprise, Ansar Enterprise and Dulary Enterprise.
These funds were later transferred to various entities linked to the personal and business interests of Saiful Alam, including Sonali Traders (owned by Md Shahidul Alam, brother of Saiful Alam), Global Trading Corporation (owned by Md Rashedul Alam, another brother of Saiful Alam), S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Ltd, SS Power, and other companies owned by S Alam Group.
On December 4, 2023, an amount of Tk聽37 crore was transferred from the account of S Alam Trading Company Ltd maintained at Islami Bank Bangladesh鈥檚 Khatunganj branch to the account of Global Trading Corporation at OR Nizam Road branch of Rupali Bank.
Global Trading Corporation is a company owned by Rashedul Alam, brother of Saiful Alam.
Subsequently, the amount, along with other funds, was further transferred through Global Trading, Genesis Textiles, S Alam Peels, S Alam Cement, S Alam Vegetable Oil, and Sonali Cargo Logistics Ltd, and finally deposited on the same day into account no 0018020010145 of SS Power-1 Ltd at Rupali Bank鈥檚 Dilkusha branch.
On the following day, December 5, 2023, an equivalent amount of Tk聽210 crore ($2,35,80,000) was transferred from that account and laundered to the offshore account of SS Power-1 Ltd maintained at the Singapore branch of the Bank of China, thereby misappropriating the funds.
The other accused in the case include, among others, Mohammad Abdullah Hasan, chairman of S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Ltd, Abdus Samad, executive director of S Alam Cold Rolled Steels Ltd, Osman Gani, managing director of S Alam Cold Rolled Steels Ltd, Rashedul Alam, proprietor of Global Trading Corporation, Sahidul Alam, shareholder of S Alam Steels Ltd and proprietor of Sonali Traders Ltd, Farzana Parvin, director of S Alam Group, Md Ismail, proprietor of Impress Corporation, SM Nesar Ullah,聽 proprietor of Aperture Trading House, Md Sadequr Rahman, proprietor of Messrs Dulari Enterprise, Md Ehsan Uddin, proprietor of Ahsan Enterprise, Mohammad Golam Kibria Chowdhury, proprietor of United Super Traders, Ansarul Alam Chowdhury, proprietor of Messrs Ansar Enterprise, Miftah Uddin, former executive vice-president of IBBL, Mohammad Sabbir, former deputy managing director of the bank, Md Mahbub ul Alam, former managing director of IBBL.
