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Premier Bank IPO Scam

BB finds MD's hand in fake account opening

Star Report
A central bank investigation into the Premier Bank public floating scam has found gross violations of banking rules in the opening of around 19,000 accounts with different branches of the bank which is a criminal offence.
The branch managers concerned said they were forced to open these accounts after they got verbal instructions from Kazi Abdul Mazid, managing director, and
Syed Nowsher Ali, manager of the Banani branch of the bank.
The managers said this in a written statement to the Bangladesh Bank investigation team, sources said.
Despite several attempts, Mazid could not be contacted for his comment as of 9:30pm yesterday.
The central bank rules had totally been ignored in opening these accounts as banks have to follow certain guidelines of Banking Rules
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and Policy Department (BRPD) and Anti-Money Laundering Department of the central bank do so, the sources explained.
According to a circular of BRPD, the banks should collect photographs of every account holder and his or her nominee while opening an account. But the Premier Bank branches did not comply with the rulesin most cases.
Besides, the Anti-Money Laundering Department has a guideline -- 'know your customer' -- that clearly says what to do in opening bank accounts.
A client is supposed to fill in a prescribed form of the bank concerned with his or her own signature, mentioning name and address and providing photocopy of passport or a domicile certificate from local ward commissioner.
"But it was found that in some cases accounts were opened without filling in such forms," a source added.
The BB probe team also found that some accounts did not have any address of the account holder while same address was mentioned in opening several thousand accounts, sources said.
In some cases the branches did not take the initial deposit needed for opening an account while no transaction took place against the accounts.
"The way these bank accounts have been opened is a criminal offence," said a former top official of the central bank. "It is clearly understandable that these accounts have been opened with a specific motive."
There may be some mistakes in opening one or two accounts. But hundreds of accounts have been opened in this particular case and it is obvious that it cannot happen without the involvement of the top management, a private bank official said.
According to sources, the BB has almost finalised an interim report of its investigation into the scam.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 12 suspended a Tk 55 crore public floating of Premier Bank after around 25,000 fake beneficiary owners' (BO) accounts were found in its preliminary investigation.
The Bangladesh Bank on February
14 launched an investigation into the Premier Bank public floating scam after being informed officially by the SEC.
It is mandatory to mention a bank account number, the branch name and a BO account number in case of applying for shares in IPO. On the other hand, it is also mandatory to mention a bank account number and the branch of a bank while opening a BO account.
Apart from the Dhaka Stock Exchange, many small as well as big investors suspect that the Premier Bank might have tried to manipulate the initial public offering (IPO) process.