3 sacked BASIC Bank officials on remand

A Dhaka court yesterday placed three sacked officials of BASIC Bank on a three-day remand each in each of the two graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The arrestees are Fazlus Sobhan and Mohammad Selim, ex-deputy managing directors, and Shipar Ahmed, former deputy general manager of the bank's Gulshan branch.

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Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Tosruzzaman passed the order after two investigation officers (IOs) of the case produced them before it.

The IOs said the arrestees need to be remanded to find out vital clues about the scam and whereabouts of other accused responsible for committing such offences.

On Thursday, the ACC held them near Sena Kalyan Bhaban in the capital's Motijheel and showed them arrested in the cases. The same day, ACC produced them before a Dhaka court with a seven-day remand plea for each of the accused in each of the cases.

Defence yesterday submitted two bail petitions for their clients, which were rejected.

The arrest follows the filing of over 50 cases by the ACC last September against a number of bankers and borrowers linked with the Tk 5,000-crore BASIC Bank scam that took place between 2010 and 2013.

One of the best banks until 2009, BASIC Bank has been mired in financial irregularities in recent years.

Bangladesh Bank inspections found 12 counts of irregularities at BASIC Bank in giving loans. These include no verification of customer's creditworthiness, absence of KYC (know your customer) procedures, and giving loans to defaulters.