Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has fined Premier Bank and several of its officials, including former managing director M Reazul Karim, a total of Tk 3.44 crore for alleged money laundering and for enabling former chairman HBM Iqbal and his family to transfer foreign currency abroad through credit card misuse.
In a letter to Premier Bank鈥檚 managing director on Tuesday, the BFIU detailed the disciplinary actions and directed the bank to deposit the penalty with Bangladesh Bank by Sunday, warning that the amount would otherwise be deducted directly from its account with BB.
BFIU officials said that HBM Iqbal and four family members used Premier Bank credit cards to purchase properties and make excessive foreign transactions beyond permissible limits under foreign exchange regulations.
The BFIU imposed total Tk 2.20 crore in fines on Premier Bank for facilitating the irregularities and failing to report suspicious activities, while Tk 1.24 crore was imposed collectively on responsible officials.
The findings revealed that the bank violated several provisions of the Money Laundering Prevention Act by opening Resident Foreign Currency Deposit (RFCD) accounts in breach of regulations, irregularly depositing funds into those accounts, and failing to maintain mandatory declaration forms.
The bank was found to have participated directly and indirectly in laundering significant foreign currency through illegal card endorsements and other non-compliant operations.
BFIU said five RFCD accounts and 18 credit cards were used for suspicious transactions that were never reported to the authority.
It also discovered that $100,000 was transferred from another client鈥檚 Exporters鈥� Retention Quota (ERQ) account to accounts belonging to Iqbal and his son, Moin Iqbal.
The unit described the act as 鈥榯heft鈥� and fined Premier Bank Tk 1 crore for the transfer.
Former managing director M Reazul Karim and additional managing director Syed Nowsher Ali were fined Tk 30 lakh each, while former Banani branch operations manager Monirul Karim Liton was fined Tk 22 lakh.
Two former heads of the bank鈥檚 card division, who served between January 2020 and August 2024, were fined Tk 10 lakh each, and another official, Zakir Hossain Jitu, Tk 22 lakh for repeatedly raising card limits in breach of rules and regulations.
The BFIU instructed the bank to take administrative action against the officials involved, whose offenses were found to be proven beyond doubt.
Investigators found that Iqbal, his sons Mohammad Imran and Moin Iqbal, his daughter Naurin Iqbal, and Moin鈥檚 wife Yasna Puja Iqbal held 18 international and 4 prepaid credit cards.
Between 2022 and 2024, they spent $3.25 million through these cards, far exceeding foreign exchange limits.
Iqbal, who co-founded Premier Bank in 1999 and chaired it for 26 years, stepped down on January 12 this year.
His accounts and those of his family were frozen under the Anti-Money Laundering Act in November 2024.
In April 2025, the BFIU fined Premier Bank for allowing Iqbal to withdraw Tk 1.11 crore and $30,000 from frozen accounts.
