Cash incentive rules flouted

8 exporters, in league with 2 banks, misappropriate Tk 43cr by abusing central bank provision, finds BB probe

AKM Zamir Uddin

Kuliarchar Sea Foods, a Cox's Bazar-based fish exporter, withdrew about Tk 19 crore in cash incentives from Mercantile Bank last year, violating government rules.

Exporters cannot collect the incentive, meant to encourage exports, until the entire export earnings are credited by the importer to the exporter's bank, according to a Bangladesh Bank circular issued in December 2001.

But some exporters with help of their local banks continue to breach the rules, a BB investigation has found.

In the last two years, five companies, including Kuliarchar, misappropriated Tk 40 crore in such incentives from Mercantile. Three other companies took away Tk 3.35 crore from Jamuna Bank, the BB report said. The central bank carried out the probe between May and November last year.

The Daily Star has been able to contact five of the eight companies in question. All of them denied any wrongdoing.

But top officials of both the banks involved admitted violating rules. They said they would try to adjust the amount from future export earnings of these firms and make sure this did not happen again.

Twenty-seven export sectors receive cash incentive between 2 percent and 20 percent under a government policy to boost export and encourage exporters to explore new markets.

The sectors enjoying cash subsidy include garment industry, frozen food and fish industry, leather products, finished leather, agro-based products and agro-processing industry.

In fiscal year 2016-17, the government gave Tk 4,395 crore in such incentives. It was Tk 3,500 crore and Tk 4,000 crore in the two previous fiscal years.

There is no data on how much of the cash incentive is withdrawn breaching rules every year, but BB officials said it could be between 10 and 15 percent of the total sum.

Under the rules, the exporters' banks pay the cash incentive to their clients. Later, the BB reimburses the banks on behalf of the government.

In case of the eight companies, the BB has already reimbursed Mercantile and Jamuna, a BB source told The Daily Star last night.  

The BB investigation found that a number of export bills of Kuliarchar Sea Foods were unpaid when it collected the incentive, which is against the rules. As the proceeds did not come even nine months after the export, Mercantile wrote to the BB in November, seeking two years' extension for the export earnings to come.

The application was subsequently rejected, but Mercantile paid the incentive to Kuliarchar anyway, the BB report said. Teamex Jute Mills, a jute spinner, pocketed nearly Tk 10 crore in a similar way from Mercantile.

The bank also disbursed nearly Tk 41 lakh to Utah Knitting and Dyeing Company and Tk 24.60 lakh to Creative Woolwear, although each of them had overdue export bills.

In another instance, Mercantile disbursed Tk 10.44 crore to Ratul Fabrics and Ratul Knitwear, two companies of Ratul Group, violating central bank rules.

The two companies produced textile items by procuring chemicals from another local factory not owned by Ratul Group, the BB report said.

The bank should have deducted the cost of the procured items while calculating the incentive, it added.

Jamuna Bank disbursed Tk 2.68 crore to Tajbed Trading and Tk 64.74 lakh to Raj-Kamal Everest Corporation although the two companies brought their export earnings through exchange houses.

“Only inward remittance can be sent through exchange houses. Exporters must bring their money through the banking channel,” said the BB report, describing the transactions as suspicious and money laundering.

IFS (Pvt) Ltd, another client of Jamuna Bank, illegally received Tk 2.59 lakh by exporting textile products to Poland. Exporters cannot collect incentives against exports to a number of countries, including Poland.

Musa Meah, chairman of Kuliarchar, termed the central bank's allegation as “bogus”.

“I have been enjoying cash incentives for long. I collected the money in line with the rules,” he told The Daily Star over the phone last week.

Contacted, Mozammel Hoque, managing director of Teamex Jute Mills, first cited network problem and hung up the phone. Later, he did not pick up the call despite repeated attempts.

Ratul Group Managing Director Nazrul Islam could not be reached for comment. A man who identified himself as Mamun and an employee of the Group received the call instead.

He insisted they broke no rules.

Mosharraf Hossain, general manager of the Utah Knitting, and Mostafa Kamal, managing director of Raj-Kamal Everest, made similar claims.

“I have applied to Jamuna Bank and the central bank to review the allegation,” Mostafa said.

On January 7, the BB asked the Mercantile Bank authorities to take punitive action against the officials involved in the irregularities by the first week of February.

The bank sought time till February 28 (tomorrow).

Mati Ul Hasan, additional managing director of the bank, said they already realised some export proceeds against which cash incentive was given.

“We will respond to the central bank letter by February 28. Also, we have taken steps so that such wrongdoings do not recur,” he said, adding that they committed an “unintentional mistake”.

Jamuna Bank managing Director Shafiqul Alam said his bank had already frozen export earnings of one of the three companies to recover the incentive.

The BB has asked Mercantile and Jamuna to deposit the fund in the government account.

• Courtesy: The Daily Star Feb 27, 2018

Coping with the cops

Muhammad Nurul Huda

Recent events relating to the serious wrongdoings of law enforcers may prompt the wary public to conclude that the misdeeds and gross dereliction of duties by our policemen have become a pathetic, recurrent reality and that nothing much can be done to change the situation.

In fact, there is a mood of hopelessness and helplessness setting in to the detriment of public confidence. Such despondency surfaces on account of the very nature of the alleged delinquent acts that involve taking hefty bribes from ordinary people to facilitate recruitment in subordinate police ranks and unlawful income by assisting drug peddling. 

Can the above state of affairs be allowed to continue without effective intervention, both institutional and informal? A vital state organ maintained by public money cannot be permitted to rot on account of a lackadaisical approach. This is so because misconduct of police personnel has a lasting tarnishing effect on the public image of the police. At the same time, police inaction is unmistakably an image-shattering factor.

It is essential to focus on the suspected decay of our police system which originates from the colonial past. Has our police leadership remained a prisoner of the political party in power at all levels and has not desirably succeeded in contributing to organisational renewal and revitalisation and the nurturing of professional skills? Has our political leadership failed to introduce administrative changes in tune with the provisions of the Republican Constitution of Bangladesh?

Organisationally speaking, the blanket power of superintendence vested in the government by the Police Act, 1861, is not appropriate in a democracy. Additionally, the role of intelligence agencies has not been redefined to protect the fundamental right to freedoms of association, expression and movement. The police in Bangladesh still keep a watch on all political activities without discrimination and exclude only the ruling party of the day which gives them authoritarian powers antithetical to the democratic spirit.

If political interference has impacted police as alleged, it is mainly due to the fact that police officers themselves including some of those at the helm of affairs have evinced an undiluted proclivity to please the political bosses for their personal and professional aggrandisement. These officers set a bad example for the entire force and that is where the police-politician nexus, much to the detriment of the norms of law and justice, comes into operation.

There is no denying that the standards of recruitment in police have declined over the years and many undeserving candidates have managed to get entry through unfair means. Such appointees let the lure of the lucre take its toll as has been alleged, and never hesitate to deviate from expected norms of behaviour.

In view of the above, recruitment standards must improve by strictly curbing corrupt practices at the time of recruitment. Officers with a record of honesty and integrity should be entrusted with the responsibility of conducting police recruitment. To ensure entry of the right people, candidates should be made to undergo suitably devised psychological tests. Thereafter, during training, top priority should be accorded to instilling a service orientation and bringing about the required attitudinal changes.

One hopes that delinquent police personnel would be dealt with in an exemplary manner in the departmental proceedings in addition to being subjected to the law of the land. Criminal conduct of a section of policemen for the last couple of years has worried many. What, however, is unfortunate is that we have not adequately ventured to find out the causes of such behavioural aberrations and try to understand the dynamics of a police sub-culture. Most often we have treated the symptoms only by punishing the individual delinquent. At times, that has also failed on account of procedural shortfalls or evidential insufficiencies.

Unfortunately, the informed public entertains grave doubts about the credibility of the recruitment process of lower functionaries in the police department. The amount of political interference in such exercise is allegedly shocking and disgusting during all political regimes. Politicians remain under the erroneous impression that their chosen candidates being recruited in police department will be an asset. Such appointees mostly become a liability for the individual politician and the public at large.

In effect, we have to appreciate that the responsibility for failure to improve the standards of police recruitment and training must fall squarely on both the politicians and the police professionals. They have not risen to the occasion but that does not mean that the unhealthy practice should continue to the detriment of a vital profession.

We have to appreciate that the deviation of policemen in the form of criminal acts and other illegal activities are always deplorable as they shake the foundation of the society by eroding faith and trust in the rule of law. There should be a concentrated drive to make it difficult for a dishonest person to remain in focal position. Superior officers have to set examples by maintaining their private lives above board.

• The Daily Star/27-02-18

সাত ব্যাংকে মূলধন ঘাটতি প্রায় সাড়ে নয় হাজার কোটি টাকা!

দেশের সাতটি ব্যাংকে মূলধন ঘাটতি রয়েছে। এর মধ্যে চারটি রাষ্ট্রায়ত্ত আর তিনটি বেসরকারি ব্যাংক। গত বছরের সেপ্টেম্বর পর্যন্ত এই সাতটি ব্যাংকে মোট মূলধন ঘাটতির পরিমাণ ৯ হাজার ৪১৭ কোটি ৪৩ লাখ টাকা। সোনালী, রূপালী, বেসিকসহ রাষ্ট্রায়ত্ত চারটি ব্যাংকের ঘাটতির পরিমাণ সাত হাজার ৬২৬ কোটি ২৩ লাখ টাকা। ফারমার্সসহ তিনটি বেসরকারি ব্যাংকের মোট মূলধন ঘাটতি এক হাজার ৭৯১ কোটি ২০ লাখ টাকা।

সোমবার জাতীয় সংসদে আবদুল মতিনের এক প্রশ্নের জবাবে অর্থমন্ত্রী আবুল মাল আবদুল মুহিত এ তথ্য জানান। অর্থমন্ত্রীর দেয়া তথ্য অনুযায়ী গত বছরের ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর পর্যন্ত সোনালী ব্যাংকের মূলধন ঘাটতি তিন হাজার ১৪০ কোটি ৪১ লাখ টাকা, রূপালী ব্যাংকের ঘাটতি ৬৮৯ কোটি ৯০ লাখ টাকা, বেসিক ব্যাংকের মূলধন ঘাটতি দুই হাজার ৫২২ কোটি ৯৯ লাখ টাকা। অর্থমন্ত্রী বলেন, ‘রাষ্ট্রায়ত্ত ব্যাংকগুলোকে ২০০৫-০৬ অর্থবছর থেকে ২০১৬-১৭ অর্থবছর পর্যন্ত সরকার ১০ হাজার ২৭২ কোটি টাকার পুনঃমূলধনীকরণ সুবিধা দিয়েছে। যা ইতিমধ্যে ব্যাংকগুলোয় মূলধন হিসাবে যুক্ত হয়েছে।’ তিনি জানান, ২০১৭ সালের ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর পর্যন্ত সরকারি মালিকানাধীন ব্যাংকে ঘাটতি ছিল সাত হাজার ৫৬৭ কোটি ৪৬ লাখ টাকা। এ সময়ে বেসরকারি ব্যাংকে  রিজার্ভ রয়েছে এক হাজার ৭৬ কোটি ৯৪ লাখ টাকা। মোট ঘাটতি প্রভিশনের পরিমাণ ছিল ছয় হাজার ৩৪৪ কোটি ৩৩ লাখ টাকা।

অর্থমন্ত্রীর দেয়া তথ্য অনুযায়ী সোনালী ব্যাংকের রিজার্ভ ঘাটতি দুই হাজার ৯০০ কোটি ৯১ লাখ টাকা, রূপালী ব্যাংকের এক হাজার ২৪৫ কোটি ৩৪ লাখ টাকা, বেসিক ব্যাংকের তিন হাজার ৪২১ কোটি ৫৪ লাখ টাকা। ন্যাশনাল ব্যাংকের ঘাটতি ৮৬১ কোটি ৬১ লাখ টাকা, প্রিমিয়ার ব্যাংকের ১৫৯ কোটি ৪০ লাখ টাকা এবং স্ট্যান্ডার্ড ব্যাংকের প্রভিশন ঘাটতি ৮৯ কোটি ৯ লাখ টাকা।

• তথ্যসূত্রঃ যুগান্তর/ফেব্রুয়ারি ২৭, ২০১৮ 

সরকারের কথা ও কাজে মিল থাকুক

কালো পতাকায় বাধা

বিএনপির চেয়ারপারসন ও সাবেক প্রধানমন্ত্রী খালেদা জিয়ার মুক্তির দাবিতে আয়োজিত কালো পতাকা কর্মসূচিকে পুলিশ যে কায়দায় বাধা দিয়ে পণ্ড করে দিয়েছে, তা কোনোভাবেই গণতান্ত্রিক আচরণ নয়। বরং এতে সংশ্লিষ্টদের বেপরোয়া মনোভাবটাই স্পষ্ট হয়ে ওঠে। খালেদা জিয়ার কারাদণ্ডকে কেন্দ্র করে বিএনপি হরতাল-অবরোধের মতো রাজপথ গরম করা কর্মসূচি দিয়ে একটা অরাজক অবস্থা তৈরি করতে পারে—এমন আশঙ্কা অনেকের মনে ছিল। কিন্তু বাস্তবে তারা সে ধরনের কোনো কর্মসূচি নেয়নি। এমন অবস্থায় কালো পতাকা প্রদর্শনের মতো নিরীহ ও নিয়মতান্ত্রিক কর্মসূচি পালনেও বাধা দেওয়ার ঘটনা দুঃখজনক। 

অতীতের নানা পর্বে বিভিন্ন ধরনের হিংসাত্মক কর্মসূচির দুঃসহ স্মৃতি আমাদের তাড়া করে। তবে এ কথা অনস্বীকার্য যে গণতান্ত্রিক মূল্যবোধ, সহনশীলতা ও রীতিনীতির অনুশীলন ছাড়া আমরা কাঙ্ক্ষিত গণতান্ত্রিক সমাজ প্রতিষ্ঠা কল্পনা করতে পারি না। গণতান্ত্রিক ব্যবস্থায় বিরোধী দল ও ভিন্নমতের জন্য অবশ্যই স্থান করে দিতে হবে। আদালতের রায় বা কোনো সিদ্ধান্ত পক্ষে গেলে একধরনের আর বিপক্ষে গেলে ভিন্ন ধরনের প্রতিক্রিয়া দেখানো আমাদের রাজনৈতিক সংস্কৃতির অবিচ্ছেদ্য অংশ। 

কোনো রাজনৈতিক দলের এমনকি মাঝারি পর্যায়ের কোনো নেতার নিতান্ত আটক বা দণ্ডের ঘটনায় সারা দেশে হরতালের মতো কর্মসূচির মুখোমুখি হওয়ার অভিজ্ঞতা দেশবাসীর রয়েছে। সেদিক থেকে বিএনপি নেত্রীর কারাদণ্ডের পর কোনো ধরনের হিংসাশ্রয়ী কর্মসূচি না দেওয়াকে একটি অগ্রগতি হিসেবে বিবেচনা করতে পারি। কিন্তু অবস্থা যদি এমন দাঁড়ায় যে বিএনপির নেতা-কর্মীরা রাস্তার পাশে ফুটপাতে দাঁড়িয়ে কালো পতাকাও প্রদর্শন করতে পারবেন না, তবে তাকে গণতান্ত্রিক আচরণ বলা যায় না। 

গত শুক্রবার শেখ রাসেল জাতীয় শিশু-কিশোর পরিষদ আয়োজিত অনুষ্ঠানে স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান খান বলেছিলেন, ‘সরকার কারও রাজনৈতিক অধিকার ক্ষুণ্ন করছে না। সরকার কোনো দলের গণতান্ত্রিক অধিকারে বাধা দেয় না। জ্বালাও-পোড়াও থেকে সরে এসে সুষ্ঠু রাজনৈতিক আন্দোলন করলে প্রয়োজনে বিএনপিকে সহযোগিতা করা হবে।’ এই আশ্বাসের ২৪ ঘণ্টার মধ্যে পুলিশ বিএনপির কালো পতাকা মিছিলে বাধা, তাদের কর্মসূচি ভন্ডুল করে দেওয়া, এমনকি নেতা-কর্মীদের নির্বিচারে গ্রেপ্তারের ঘটনা ঘটল। কিন্তু দেশবাসী বিস্ময়ের সঙ্গে দেখল যে সরকারের কথা ও কাজে মিল নেই।

এর আগেও আমরা ক্ষমতাসীন দলের নেতা-কর্মীদের তরফে বিএনপির আন্দোলনের বিষয়ে অসংযত ও অসহনশীল বক্তৃতা-বিবৃতি দিতে দেখেছি। আওয়ামী লীগের খোদ সাধারণ সম্পাদক বলেছেন, ‘বিএনপি আন্দোলন করতে ব্যর্থ হয়ে এখন নিয়মতান্ত্রিক আন্দোলনের কথা বলছে।’ তার মানে আওয়ামী লীগ কি চায় বিএনপি রাজপথ গরম করা কর্মসূচি নিক! 

মহান একুশের চেতনা জাতিকে একটি প্রতিবাদী সমাজ বিনির্মাণে প্রেরণা জুগিয়েছিল, সুতরাং জাতি যখন ভাষার মাস পালন করছে, তখন শান্তিপূর্ণ কালো পতাকা মিছিল কেবল অনুমতির দোহাই দিয়ে ভন্ডুল করে দেওয়া দুর্ভাগ্যজনক। আর পুলিশ যে কায়দায় কাজটি করেছে তা নিন্দনীয়। প্রচলিত আইনের কোথাও কালো পতাকা মিছিলের বিষয়ে আগাম অনুমতির কথা বলা নেই। সবচেয়ে বড় কথা, নিয়মতান্ত্রিক প্রতিবাদ ও সমাবেশের সব দরজা যদি সরকারই বন্ধ করে দেয়, তাহলে যে সম্ভাব্য চিত্রটি সামনে আসে, সেটি মোটেই কাঙ্ক্ষিত নয়। 

অতএব, আগে অনুমতি নেয়নি এই অজুহাত দেখিয়ে কোনো দলের নিয়মতান্ত্রিক ও শান্তিপূর্ণ কর্মসূচিতে বাধা দেওয়া যাবে না। আইনশৃঙ্খলা রক্ষাকারী বাহিনীর দায়িত্ব জনজীবনে শান্তি বজায় রাখা। কিন্তু তারা নিজেরাই যদি শান্তিপূর্ণ কর্মসূচিতে বাধা দিয়ে অশান্তি সৃষ্টি করে, সেটি কারও জন্য সুসংবাদ বয়ে আনবে না।

 Courtesy: Prothom Alo/সম্পাদকীয়/ Feb 26, 2018 

Form 'Banking Enquiry Commission' forthwith

Banking expert pleads as he sees financial sector riddled with problems, irregularities

The government should move to form a 'Banking Enquiry Commission' immediately to address the problems and irregularities that are 'eating away' at Bangladesh's financial sector, says an expert.

"The core problem in our banking sector today is a lack of good governance," former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled told a function arranged Sunday in Dhaka on a BIBM Research Almanac focused on the state of banking in the country.

"This is obvious that the banking sector is not running well. The problems have already been pinpointed and it is high time to act," said Mr Khaled, who had led one of recent probe bodies on financial-sector scam, namely stock-market manipulation and debacle.

In this context, he mentioned that the Finance Minister had already said that he would not form a Banking Commission right now. "But even if that is not possible, a Banking Enquiry Commission, at the very least, should be formed," the former Deputy Governor of the central bank said.

"Having such a commission would help us to get out of the problems that are eating away at our banking sector," he told the technical session of the daylong programme organized by Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management or BIBM.

Earlier, during the inaugural session of the event, Finance Secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury asked the banking sector to get ready for increased technological changes that would happen within the financial sector in the years ahead.

"Human interface is already getting minimized, and within five to ten years time, most of banking operations will shift from human interface to technological interface," the Finance Secretary told the meet.

He said the time has come to ponder whether the term banker will exist in the near future or not.

"In this context, there are needs for increased research in our banking arena on the fintech issue and its possible impact."

Afterwards, a series of keynote papers on various research topics conducted by BIBM were presented at the event, in the institution's bid to focus on variegated issues facing banks and on possible remedies.

In a keynote paper called "Sustainability Reporting Practices in Banks of Bangladesh", the researcher pointed out that out of total of 30 listed banks in Bangladesh, only 15 had made separate sustainability disclosure in their corporate annual reports in between 2011 and 2015.

In this context, researchers said that the central bank should give pragmatic policy and motivational support apart from confirming publication of report by all banks.

Another research paper on the status of Fund Transfer Pricing in the commercial banks of Bangladesh showed that around 58 per cent of the country's banks have no FTP policy.

A faulty FTP methodology or a biased framework will send wrong signals by creating an unintended balance-sheet structure in the form of disproportionate mix of asset portfolios on the asset side and liquidity holes on the liability side, researchers said.

Therefore, banks in Bangladesh should implement matched maturity well-responsive FTP Framework by eliminating overreliance on offline systems requiring manual intervention and by revising the simplistic assumptions in the implementation of the FTP framework, they added.

In another keynote paper entitled 'Addressing Disaster Risk by Banks: Bangladesh Perspective', researchers showed that although Bangladesh is among the top five vulnerable countries on earth, the proportion of insured risks appeared to be even much lower than the Asian average.

In this context, they observed that a developed insurance market and attractive targeted insurance products might be the solution.

In addition, researchers at the event also identified a lack of board-level awareness about the magnitude of the impact of implementing Basel III as a challenge facing banks in Bangladesh.

"Basel-III requires the involvement of the senior management in the process of identification, evaluation and mitigation of risks," said a keynote paper titled 'Impact of Basel Accords in the Banking Sector of Bangladesh'.

"The senior management and the board members may use some sort of supervisory and monitoring techniques to ensure the technical and other executives are engaged in risk-mitigation activities and the board is satisfied with the action taken by them," it added.

• Courtesy: The Financial Express Feb 26, 2018

ACC admits failure in curbing massive corruption in country

Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Iqbal Mahmood on Sunday said that corruption was taking place in the country on a massive scale but they and other stakeholders failed to prevent it.

‘This is true that corruption is taking place in the country on a massive scale and we [ACC] and other stakeholders are responsible for it,’ he said at his office in reaction to the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International.

He also said that it was not possible for them to fight corruption at the pace it was taking place across the country. The CPI report, released on February 22, showed that Bangladesh moved two steps up in 2017.

Replying to a question on BASIC Bank scam, Iqbal said that the commission would not submit charge sheets in the cases filed in this link before detecting the destination of the embezzled money.

He admitted that the commission failed to complete the investigations of the cases in time and claimed that it was impossible to end immediately as the money was embezzled in different layers.  He said that the commission so far filed 61 cases and some other cases were in pipeline over the state-run commercial bank’s scam.

He also said that the commission was not working to implement any political agenda as he thought that the political parties had enough willingness to prevent corruption.

He denied the allegation that the ACC was dealing more cases against opposition leaders and said that a good number of ruling party people were also under ACC scanner.

• Courtesy: New Age Feb 26, 2018

  

Directors go scot free, bank officials chased

Shakhawat Hossain 

      

Lower and mid-level bankers are facing prosecution for loan scams while boards of directors get off scot-free and even some of them have been promoted although they have failed to prevent misappropriation of billions of taka from the state-owned banks in the past nine years.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has so far brought charges or arrested 41 bankers for their alleged involvement in the loan scams, including embezzlement of Tk 3,700 crore by Hallmark Group from Sonali Bank and Tk 6,000 crore from BASIC Bank, said commission officials.

The commission, however, brought no charge against directors including former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, they said.

On June 30, 2015, finance minister AMA Muhith told parliament that action could not be taken against Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu because of ruling Awami League leaders.

Besides, embezzlement of Tk 1,200 crore from five banks, including state-owned Janata Bank, and loan scam of Tk 5,500 crore by AnonTex Group in Janata Bank during the tenure of Abul Barakat-led board of directors raised questions about the role of directors appointed on political considerations, said experts.

They noted that such appointments increased significantly since the beginning of the back-to-back five-year tenure of the ruling Awami League in 2009.

Former interim government adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said that politically appointed directors could not avoid the responsibility of the loan scams that caused disaster in the state-run banks.

The country’s banking sector is now in total disarray, said Mirza Aziz, who was reportedly forced to resign in December 2006 as Sonali Bank chairman following his refusal to approve a Tk 15 crore loan for the then president Iajuddin Ahmed’s son Imtiaj Ahmed.

Six BASIC Bank officials –– deputy managing director Fazlus Sobhan, former Gulshan branch manager Shiper Ahmed, its commercial credit information department former manager M Selim, former Saidpur branch manager Ekramul Bari and general manager Joynal Abiden Chowdhury –– are now in jail as cases filed against 27 officials, including the six, by the Anti-Corruption Commission for loan scams are under investigation.

Twenty-five Sonali Bank officials, including former managing director Humayun Kabir (now in hiding), deputy managing directors Mainul Haque and Atiqur Rahman, general managers Nani Gopal Nath and Mir Mohidur Rahman, deputy general managers Sheikh Altaf Hossain and M Safiz Uddin Ahmed, and assistant general managers Kamrul Hossain Khan and Ezaz Ahmed, and Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch former assistant general manager AKM Azizur Rahman are now facing trial for the Hallmark loan scams.

The commission in 2013 and 2014 dropped inquiries against former Sonali Bank directors Kazi Baharul Islam, Subhash Singha Roy, M Anwar Sahid, Abu Sayed Mohammed Nayeem, KM Zaman Romel, Satendra Chandra Bhaktha, M Shahidullah Miah, Kasem Humayun, Saimum Sarwar Kamal, Jannat Ara Henry who were the board members during the embezzlement of Tk 3,700 crore by Hallmark Group from Sonali’s Ruposhi Bangla hotel branch.

Saimum Sarwar Kamal, former Chhatra League leader of Chittagong University, became a member of parliament being elected uncontested in 2014 elections, boycotted by all opposition parties, with an Awami League ticket.

Subhash Singha Roy, former Chatra League leader, is now running a news portal abcnews24.com and Jannat Ara Henry, a schoolteacher in Sirajganj before being appointed as director to the Sonali Bank board of directors, became a joint secretary general of the central Awami League. 

KM Zaman Romel, son of AL lawmaker Khandaker Asaduzzaman, in 2016 became chairman of the Peoples Group comprising companies of shipping, garments, power plants, gas station and international trading.

Kasem Humayun, Bangla daily Sangbad executive editor, is now serving as Agrani Bank director.

Finance ministry officials said that two of the six public servants serving as directors to BASIC Bank during the period of loan scams in 2009-2014 had been promoted to secretary.

Shuvashish Bose, appointed BASIC Bank director while serving as Export Promotion Bureau vice-chairman, was made secretary to textiles and jute ministry in January and commerce secretary in March in 2017.

Syam Sunder Sikder was made a director at the bank while serving as the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation chairman in 2013. He was made secretary to the information and communication technology division in September 2014 and the telecom secretary in March 2017.

Fakhrul Islam, made a director while serving as Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority executive chairman, was promoted to secretary without any post in August 2014. Later, he went into retirement.

Quamrun Naher Ahmed, made a director while he was a joint secretary, was promoted to additional secretary. Another former director Neelufar Ahmed is serving at the Prime Minister’s Office.

AKM Rezaur Rahman, made a director while he was an additional secretary, was later appointed to the Sonali Bank board of directors.

Five of the former BASIC Bank directors, including Awami Juba League leader Anwarul Islam, also ARS Lube Bangladesh Ltd managing director, and ruling Awami League mouthpiece Uttaran assistant editor Anis Ahmed, were appointed from the private sector.

Anwarul Islam is serving as a director to the state-owned Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited while Anis Ahmed is working as news editor of the magazine.

Another director from private sector was AKM Kamrul Islam. He is a partner of Islam Aftab Kamrul and Co.

Former BASIC Bank managing director Kazi Fakhrul Islam has been in hiding since his dismissal along with nine senior bank officials in May 2014.

The commission, following a High Court order, interrogated Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu in December.

On November 8, 2017, the High Court scolded the commission for keeping only small fry in jail demonstrating pick and choose policy about corruption suspects. 

Commission chairman Iqbal Mahmood said that they were scrutinising all the loans approved by the BASIC Bank board during Abdul Hye’s period.

Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Ifthekharuzzaman said that the commission should take immediate legal action against Abdul hye and other board of directors as their involvement in the loan scams was already detected in the investigation by the Bangladesh Bank.

He criticised the commission saying that Abdul Hye and other BASIC Bank directors had been interrogated following a High Court order.

The parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry on many occasions since the detection of the loan scams recommended that the commission should bring the controversial directors to justice.

Parliamentary body chairman Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said that the commission ‘mysteriously’ failed to prosecute the masterminds of the loan scams.

• Courtesy: New Age, Feb 26, 2018

ASK blasts police action on BNP protests

Rights body Ain O Salish Kendra on Sunday expressed deep concern over police action to foil Saturday’s black flag demonstration of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, demanding immediate release of their party chairperson Khaleda Zia.

ASK also strongly condemned the reported arrest of some 50 leaders and activists of the political opposition while police’s action left 100 BNP activists injured, said a press release from the organisation.

The rights body also blasted the law enforcers’ approach of charging baton, spraying hot water on the agitated BNP activists who had thronged in front of the party office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka on the day. ASK observed that holding meeting, protest rally and processions were democratic rights of a political party that is secured by the constitution.

On February 8, Khaleda Zia was sentenced for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Since then, she has been kept at the erstwhile Dhaka Central Jail at Nazimuddin Road in the Old Town of Dhaka.

The black flag demonstration was announced protesting police’s denial on Thursday to permit the party’s rally at Suhrawardy Udyan or Naya Paltan in Dhaka.

The black flag demonstration was scheduled for one hour from 11:00am in front of the BNP central office. 

On Saturday, BNP claimed that while foiling the demonstration, police arrested more than 150 leaders and activists, including joint secretary general Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and assistant climate secretary Mustafizur Rahman Babul and injured 230, including organising secretary Fazlul Hoque Milon.

• Courtesy: New Age Feb 26, 2018

Wounds yet to heal

Victims of Pilkhana carnage remembered

Tasim lost both his parents in just nine months.

After his mother died of a brain tumour, his father Maj Mizanur Rahman was killed in the Pilkhana carnage.

He was only 10 then.

He and many other families came to Banani graveyard yesterday to pay homage to the officers killed nine years ago. They placed wreaths on the graves of their loved ones.

Tasim came with his 70-year-old grandmother who cannot move without a wheelchair.

A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed when the mutineers revolted on February 25, 2009, during Darbar (yearly assembly) of the force in the capital's Pilkhana.

The mutiny had left the nation numb, as people stood aghast at the extent of the barbarity perpetrated at the Pilkhana headquarters of the paramilitary force, later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

Tasim, now an HSC student at a cadet college, remembered that it was a typical morning.

“We heard the first gunshots at the assembly hall, which was not far, two hours after my father left home. I was home with my three-year-old brother and my grand-mother. I called him, but the phone was switched off,” he told this correspondent at Banani graveyard.

Grieving families offered their prayers and laid flowers on the graves of their loved ones yesterday. Some demanded February 25 be declared martyred soldier day.

Many of them said they were waiting for the execution of the verdict in a case filed over the killings of their near and dear ones.

“Fifty seven army officers were martyred. I hope the day is valued with due respect,” Lucky Sarwar, sister of slain Maj Kazi Mosaddek Hossain, said. Lucky went to the graveyard with Mosaddek's daughter Laika to pay their homage.

The chiefs of three defence forces and the chief of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) first laid flowers on the graves.

The High Court announced the verdict in the case in November last year, but it is yet to release the full judgment.

 Deputy Attorney General KM Zahid Sarwar Kazal on Saturday said as the HC did not release the full verdict, neither the government nor the accused could file appeals with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

On November 27 last year, the HC confirmed death penalty for 139 out of the 152 accused who were handed capital punishment by a lower court for their involvement in the killings during the mutiny.

Terming the offenders “most brutal” and “cold-blooded” murderers, a three-member special bench of the HC pronounced the verdict in the biggest-ever criminal case in the country's history in terms of numbers of accused and convicts. 

• Courtesy: The Daily Star Feb 26, 2018

Editorial - Unacceptable police action

Where is the political space for the opposition?

Despite repeated assurances from the government that political space will be afforded to all, the way the police cracked down on BNP activists on February 24 seems to indicate otherwise. The home minister said that the government never obstructs any peaceful programmes, yet there are scores of incidents that show differently, including BNP's latest protest which, reportedly, was peaceful on the part of its activists, but not so on the part of police.

The activists were simply protesting the refusal of police to allow BNP permission to hold a rally by waiving black flags—exercising their fundamental right to free expression—when the police descended on them. What this does is make the claim of the ruling party about the government's willingness to give space to dissenting voices look increasingly hollow. And it also makes one wonder whether it is the order of the day that no political activities can be carried out, except only by the ruling party.

The home minister also said that the area needed to be cleared to ease people's sufferings. Police, echoing his views, said that BNP did not take permission to hold any rally. Yet, BNP activists weren't even allowed to leave the area in front of its own central office space, as police swarmed on them immediately as they sat down on the adjacent pavements, going as far as to use coloured water from water cannons.

What we want to ask is, was all that necessary? After all, the activists were strictly restricted to the immediate vicinity of BNP's office. Did the police really need to get so overzealous?

We have, in the past, strongly condemned BNP's violence. However, peaceful protests, political rallies, etc., are fundamental rights and sine qua non for any democracy worth the name.

• Courtesy: The daily Star Feb 26, 2018