& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Premier Bank in loan controversy

Bank gave loans to relatives of chairman flouting rules

STAR REPORT
Premier Bank faces another financial scandal as it has been found that a huge amount of loans has been sanctioned to the relatives of its chairman HBM Iqbal, using fictitious names and addresses of non-existent companies.
The Mothjheel branch of Premier Bank sanctioned Tk 25 crore as overdraft (OD) against Tk 1 crore fixed deposit and fixed and floating assets of a company named Nirvana Construction that does not exist at all.
According to the sanction letter, Fauzia Rekza Banu is the chairman and managing director of Nirvana.
She is the wife of late Shah Alam, brother of Iqbal.
Dewan Anwarul Latif, executive vice-president and in-charge of the Mothjheel branch, signed the sanction letter to the borrower mentioning the address -- house-36, road-18, block-C, Banani, Dhaka.
SEE PAGE 11 COL 1 FROM PAGE 12
When this correspondent went to Banani to locate Nirvana Construction Ltd yesterday, the office of the company could not be found as local residents said the block-C of Banani does not have road-18.
Earlier, a group of reporters went to the Motijheel branch on Wednesday to talk to Anwarul Latif about the matter, but he declined to disclose anything.
But when the reporters showed him the sanction letter, he admitted the fact and said, "The account has already been closed and I can't tell anything more. You can talk to the managing director."
Asked whether the borrower, Fauzia, is a relative of HBM Iqbal, Latif said she had testified herself that none of the directors is her relative.
It was found that the bank not only sanctioned the Tk 15 crore OD to Fauzia, it also extended the limit to Tk 25 crore on July 27, 2004 and the facility period was also extended till June 30, 2005.
Moreover, the interest rate was reduced to 11 percent for the particular case, down from the normal rate of 12 percent.
When Managing Director of the bank Kazi Abdul Mazid was contacted over his cellphone on Wednesday for his comment on the matter, he said: "I am at a meeting now. I don't have any ready information about it."
Also, there are allegations that the chairman is involved in siphoning-off such huge amount of money from the bank using the names of his relatives.
BO ACCOUNT SCAM
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday sent an investigation team to
Chittagong to verify an address that was mentioned in opening 15,000 beneficiary owners' (BO) account by the depository participant of the Premier Bank.
The SEC on February 12 suspended a Tk 55 crore public floating of Premier Bank after around 25,000 beneficiary owners' (BO) accounts had been found to be fake in the preliminary investigation of the capital market watchdog.
The Bangladesh Bank also launched an investigation into the scam after being informed officially by the SEC. The central bank detected a number of irregularities in opening of a huge number of accounts with Premier Bank.
The Bangladesh Bank is now investigating possible link of four other banks with the 25,000 'false' BO accounts.