13 Commerce Bank officials face action over irregularities

The central bank has ordered Bangladesh Commerce Bank to take the highest administrative action against 13 officials for allegedly receiving Tk 4 crore from the bank’s funds in the name of incentives under a deposit mobilisation campaign.

Through a letter to the managing director of the bank on August 25, the regulator also directed the lender to take legal action over the irregular withdrawal of the money and recover the funds.

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The central bank took the decision after a special inspection of Bangladesh Commerce Bank’s head office and principal branch following allegations of misappropriation of Tk 5 crore belonging to depositors.

Contacted, Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, told The Daily Star that there is no scope for providing any incentive for collecting deposits.

“What happened at the bank was that it collected deposits at a lower rate but showed a higher rate and took the difference as a cash incentive,” he said, adding that this is against the policy.

According to the inspection report, Tk 4 crore was deposited into the personal accounts of 13 officials on June 4, 2026, as “incentives” for collecting deposits under the bank’s “Ujjibon” deposit campaign.

The payment was not approved by the bank’s board of directors, the report said.

The 13 officials included eight from the head office, four from the principal branch and one from the bank’s Dilkusha branch.

The money was subsequently withdrawn in cash through 14 cheques over two days.

Nine cheques were used to withdraw Tk 3.04 crore on June 4 this year, while five cheques were used to withdraw Tk 96 lakh on June 7, according to the inspection findings. The cash was withdrawn by Md Delwar Hossain, senior executive vice president and head of the treasury department of Bangladesh Commerce Bank, and Md Hamidur Rahman, senior principal officer and personal secretary to the managing director.

The two officials reportedly left the principal branch with the cash in the bank’s vehicle after each withdrawal.

Bangladesh Bank has instructed the bank to dismiss Delwar Hossain and Hamidur Rahman. The directive is separate from any previous orders issued against them.

The central bank has also ordered the bank to take the highest administrative action against the other 11 officials involved and inform it of the measures taken within a month.

The other officials are First Assistant Vice President (FAVP) Yusuf Siddiq Ullah, AVP Saleh Ahmed, Officer Sarwar, FAVP Sujon Das, AVP Tasnuba Majumder, AVP Ahsan Habib, Principal Officer Adnan Ash Shafique, FAVP Monirul Haque, Senior Officer (SO) Rifat-ul Mursalin, Officer Saifur Rahman and SO Shahinur Rahman.

During the inspection, the officials were asked to explain the transactions in their accounts.

Except for Saleh Ahmed, who was on leave due to illness, the officials told the inspection team that they had handed over their signed cheques to the marketing department on the advice of the bank’s management, the BB report showed.

“They said the money was intended to cover expenses such as transportation, hospitality and gifts related to bringing in deposits under the bank’s 2026 deposit campaign.”

The managing director told the inspection team that the bank had secured a Tk 100 crore deposit from Gazipur City Corporation through the Ujjibon campaign at an interest rate of 2.5 percent, according to the report.

He claimed that additional expenses were incurred for business development and hospitality to bring in the deposit, taking the effective cost of the deposit to 6.5 percent.

As the interest rate on a one-year fixed deposit was around 11.5 percent, the bank would save about 5 percentage points through the arrangement, he informed the inspection team, according to the BB report.

The Daily Star tried to reach Md Obaidul Hoque, managing director of the bank, for comment over the phone and through WhatsApp text messages, but he did not respond to the phone calls or messages until the report was filed.

Bangladesh Bank, however, found that the expenses were improperly routed through the personal bank accounts of 13 officials and paid as incentives without approval from the board.