11 held for FDR forgery

A gang of 11 men have been arrested from a branch of Brac Bank in the capital's Gulshan in connection with a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) fraud worth Tk 90 crore, police and the bank said yesterday.

"They have been doing this type of forgery for years. We suspect they are organised fraudsters," Abdul Barik, sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station, told The Daily Star after primary investigation.

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Police identified Kazi Shahdat Hossain, 47, as the gang leader. Other members of the gang were identified as Mahbubur Rahman Kajal, 30; Shahjahan, 52; Selim Ahmed, 44; Delwar Hossain, 45; Korshed Alam, 34; Shahbur Rahman Bablu, 65; Nazrul Haq, 42; Sabbir Rahman, 40; Sirajul Islam, 34, and Hasibul Hasan, 34.

Asked whether any bank official was involved in the attempted fraud, Barik said police were investigating the matter.

Zara Jabeen Mahbub, head of communications and service quality of Brac Bank, said the gang came to the bank's Gulshan-1 branch at 11:00am yesterday to encash the FDRs. They came up with documents including the power of attorney to receive the money.

"Bank officials found that the signature in the power of attorney doesn't match with the one in the original documents. Then they [officials] immediately contacted the head office [located at Gulshan-1]," Zara said.

Later, the bank informed Gulshan police who rushed there and picked up the persons, she said.

Police said Saiful Islam, a non-resident Bangladeshi, owns the money against nine FDRs, each worth Tk 10 crore. Currently, Islam is the vice chairman of Brac EPL Investments, a subsidiary of Brac Bank, according to the company's website. He is also a former senior vice president of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

"They were well dressed and smart and none will suspect them at first sight," said an official of the bank's Gulshan-1 branch.

Tariq Aziz, an officer at the branch, filed a case against all 11 of the gang for fraud and forgery yesterday night, said sub-inspector Abdul Barik.

This is the biggest ever FDR forgery attempt in Bangladesh. Bankers with over 30 years of experience could not remember any fraud attempt bigger than this one.

In 2013 and 2014 some forgeries were detected in some banks. But those forgeries involved credit and debit cards and bank officials were involved in those scams.

Bankers, however, said cash withdrawal attempts with forged cheques take place quite frequently.