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Hall-Mark's Tk 2,964cr Swindling

A year on, Sonali mulls litigation

Rejaul Karim Byron
Sonali Bank is finally making moves to sue the owners of Hall-Mark Group and some bankers for realising Tk 2,554 crore swindled from the bank more than a year ago.
The bank's board of directors at a meeting last week directed its management to take initiative to file cases after the bank’s lawyers alerted it to a time-bar for filing cases, said a high official at the bank.
Bangladesh Bank in May last year detected the country's biggest banking fraud in the state-run bank. The forgery took place between 2010 and 2012, when the controversial business group took the loan amount from the bank on forged documents.
The Anti-Corruption Commission has already lodged 11 cases against several officials of Hall-Mark Group and Sonali Bank.
In March, the finance ministry had asked the bank to suggest ways to resume operations of Hall-Mark Group, including rescheduling the loan. The move faced strong criticism from different quarters.
Instructed by the ministry, Sonali Bank later appointed six lawyers for their opinion about six matters including legal steps and rescheduling of the loan. The attorneys last month suggested the bank should sue Hall-Mark at least for the loans it had granted to the business group in 2010. Otherwise, the lender might face problems in realising the money after passing of three years.
"Cases have to be filed by this year so that it doesn't become time-barred," said a Sonali Bank official.
The board on Thursday instructed the management to present before it in the next meeting detailed information on the loans and the timeframe for filing the cases, he added.
LAWYERS'OPINION
The attorneys advised the bank to file cases with the Artha Rin Adalat, money suit with the civil court and also criminal cases to recover the swindled money. They also recommended suing Sonali Bank officials so that the embezzled amount can be recovered by selling their (bankers) assets.
They stressed the need for tracing the movable and immovable properties of all those involved in the forgery to satisfy the judgement debt.
About rescheduling of loans, the lawyers noted that the scope for resched-uling was very slim. However, they said the bank can consider rescheduling only if the owners of Hall-Mark Group take responsibility for the crime by putting their signs on non-judicial stamps and pledge collateral for the loans.
The bank authorities should seek opinion from the court as to whether rescheduling
was possible and the confession of the Hall-Mark officials, now behind bars, about the swindled money has to be taken through the ACC, observed the lawyers.
The board of directors, said another Sonali Bank official, in three special meetings have discussed the opinions of the six lawyers. In its next meeting, the board might decide on filing cases.
According to the Sonali Bank's latest data, the Hall-Mark Group took loans of Tk2,964 crore, of which it has already adjusted Tk410 crore. As a result, the company owed Tk2,554 crore to the bank till June 30.
A Sonali Bank evaluation has valued the land pledged by the group as collateral for the loan at Tkl,146 crore.