A frozen shrimp exporter has allegedly smuggled Tk 16 crore 38 lakh out of the country by forged means in connivance with three high officials at the Khulna zonal office of a private bank.

The bank officials have been placed under suspension for their alleged involvement in the scam, sources said.

They are one Senior Executive Vice-president and two Vice Presidents. The two vicepresidents have been called to the head office in Dhaka to account for their alleged involvement in

the forgery in support of the shrimp exporter--Delta Fish Ltdin Satkhira.

The allegation is that Delta Fish Ltd. opened a Letter of Credit (LC) with the Khulna branch of the bank for financial support for exporting frozen shrimps. The amount of money in question received as sale proceeds by exporting frozen shrimp was not deposited with the bank. Rather, an equivalent amount of money was received by the exporter from another bank in Dubai in Abu Dhabi by forged means in connivance with four local bank officers, the sources said. The private bank has no branch in Dubai.

Sources said, Delta Fish Ltd. is a defaulter with Khulna branch of the bank from where it has taken Tk 56 crore 48 lakh loans. Now its proprietor is trying to prove the farm as bankrupt.

Chairman of Delta Ltd. Wazed Ali Biswas when contacted denied the charge of smuggling Tk. 16 cr 38 lakh out of the country. There is no provision to open LC for export trade in any bank of the country, he said claiming that his farm has exported frozen shrimps worth over Tk 400 crore in last three years. "My farm is not a bank defaulter and has no branch office in Dubai", he said.