The sentence against 17 people, including life imprisonment for nine, by a Dhaka court for their involvement in the Hallmark loan scam amounting to around Tk 3,700 crore should be welcomed in the country鈥檚 scam-hit banking sector.
But further examples聽 should be set up through the trial process to hold colluders accountable, chief executive officer of Policy Exchange Bangladesh, M Masrur Reaz, observed on Tuesday while commenting on the verdict.
聽He said that the trial process would remain incomplete unless the embezzled funds were recovered.
According to Reaz, the country鈥檚 banking sector has faced a series of scams since 2012 and has lost millions of dollars.
The recovery of the fund is imperative for the improvement of the banking sector, known as the nerve of the economy, he said.
Calling the disposal of the case a step forward on the embezzled money from the banking sector, he hoped that the trial of the other loan scams would be settled without any delay.
He observed that loan scams in the BASIC bank rendered a once profitable state-owned bank facing bankruptcy.
Besides, loan scams at the private commercial bank Farmer Bank forced it to be renamed Padma Bank before facing a merger with another bank, he said.
On Tuesday, a Dhaka Special Judge Court-1 sentenced nine people to life-term imprisonment in one of the 11 cases filed related to the scam. Eight other people were handed jail sentences for varying terms.
The Hallmark loan scam took place between 2010 and 2012 when SB鈥檚 Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch lent the money on falsified documents.