TK1,174CR EmbezzlementACC sues Salman F Rahman, son and 39 others

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed two separate cases against Salman Fazlur Rahman, former adviser to deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, his son and 39 others,on charges of embezzling about Tk1,174 crore by taking loans in the name of a non-existent company by showing insufficient collateral and fake subcontracts.

ACC Deputy Directors Md Mustafizur Rahman and Md Yasir Arafat filed two cases as plaintiffs.

ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhtar Hossain on Tuesday gave this information while talking to journalists at a press briefing held at ACC head office in the capital.

Of which, 22 people have been charged with embezzling approximately Tk678 crore from IFIC Bank in the first case and 17 people have been charged in the second case for embezzling around Tk496 crore.

According to the first case statement, fraud, loan fraud, and embezzlement worth approximately Tk618 crore was held at IFIC bank. A total of Tk618,09,31,076 were distributed in two meetings of the board of directors on 20 March and 12 June in 2024 without any supporting collateral or proper valuation.

All that money was withdrawn and embezzled. Which, with interest, amounted to Tk677,75,16,000.

The accused in the case are former MP Salman Fazlur Rahman and his son former Vice Chairman of IFIC Bank Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman, former Directors of the bank Shah Monzurul Haque, Sudhangshu Shekhar Biswas, RM Nazmus Shakib, Kamrun Nahar Ahmed, Golam Mostafa and Md Zafar Iqbal.

In addition, the list of accused includes IFIC Bank’s current Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Syed Mansur Mustafa, former Managing Director Md Shah Alam Sarwar, Deputy Managing Director Md Rafiqul Islam and then Chief Business Officer Md Nurul Hasnat.

The bank's IT and treasury departments have also been indicted - the bank's then Chief Information Officer Monitur Rahman, Head of Treasury Mohammad Shahin Uddin, Head of Credit Administration Syed Hasnuzzaman, former Head of Operations Helal Ahmed, former Deputy Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer Iqbal Parvez Chowdhury and then Chief Manager Hossain Shah Ali.

Besides, Alamgir Alam Chowdhury, managing director of Growing Construction and Engineering, and Syeda Munima Hossain, director of Chowa Construction, have been named as top borrowers. IFIC's Acting Principal Branch In-charge Taslima Akhter and then Relationship Manager Sardar Md Mominul Islam have also been named as accused in the case.

On the other hand, in the second case, allegations have been made of embezzling Tk496 crore through frauds and deception by misusing loan facilities. Of this, Tk434.64 crore is capital, and the rest is interest.

A total of 17 influential individuals and senior officials of the bank, including Salman F Rahman and his son, have been accused in this case.

The accused in the complaint are – Salman Fazlur Rahman; Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman; Md Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, former director of IFIC Bank and former mayor of Sylhet City Corporation; Sultana Monami, director of a fake company called ServConstruction and Engineering BD and Md Monirul Islam, MD of that company; Md Shah Alam Sarwar, former managing director of IFIC Bank; former directors Rabeya Jamali, RM Nazmus Shakib, Kamrun Nahar Ahmed and Md Zafar Iqbal, then chief manager and current deputy managing director; Md Rafiqul Islam, former deputy managing director and head of IT Shah Md Moinuddin; former chief business officer and Deputy Managing Director Md Nurul Hasnat; Deputy Managing Director and Chief of IT Md Monitur Rahman; Head of Treasury Mohammad Shahin Uddin, then Relationship Manager and current Manager of Narayanganj Branch Abdur Rahman; and Deputy Manager (Corporate Finance) of Beximco Group Kaushik Kanti Pandit.

The ACC launched a separate investigation against Beximco Group chairman Salman F Rahman in August on charges of irregularities, corruption, and looting in the banking sector after the change of government.