& 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

Rejoinder, our reply
BH Haroon, a director, and Majedur Rahman, managing director of Premier Bank, have issued separate rejoinders to the report headlined, "Tk. 134 crore vanishes” published in The Daily Star on July 4.
In his rejoinder, Haroon, also a ruling party lawmaker from Ihalakathi district, denied his involvement in the money embezzlement from a client's bank account. He said the allegation had caused a fatal blow to his and the bank's image.He also said that the report was made on Khalilur Rahman's (a client of the bank) false claim. He said Rahman is a loan defaulter of Premier Bank.
Haroon also claimed that no officials of Premier Bank were involved in this money withdrawal allegation from a client's account.
The Premier Bank rejoinder, issued by its managing director Majedur Rahman, also protested against the news report.
The bank said the report alleging embezzlement of money by some bank officials in the account of Khalilur Rahman, proprietor of M/S. Rumi Enterprise, is baseless and ill-
motivated. It said Khalilur Rahman, proprietor of M/S. Rumi Enterprise availed a large amount of loan from the bank and he failed to repay the loan and, accordingly, the account was classified as a defaulter borrower. The bank also filed suits under Artha Rin Ain and Negotiable Instruments Act for recovery of the loan.
Premier Bank also said Abu Haniff Khan, additional managing director of the bank, has been implicated falsely. Khan had been in service with the bank from July 28 2005 to October 29 2007 and he was not in Bangladesh from October 08 2008 to December 08 2008. He again joined the bank on February 05 2009 and has been in service till date.
OUR REPLY
The Daily Star has published the news report based on the findings of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) and AntiCorruption Commission reports.
The BB probe report found anomalies on the part of the bank officials concerned. The report also questioned how a bank could disburse such a big amount of money despite 'mismatch' in signature with the actual account holder. Our correspondent talked to a deputy governor of BB, who also admitted that they found huge elements of corruption in the issue and, accordingly, they have referred the case to the ACC for further investigation.
Then the Daily Star talked to ACC
officials, including its chairman, before filing the report. ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman told this correspondent that the ACC had evidence ofTk 62 crore embezzlement from the account holder's money. The chairman said the ACC was sure that bank officials were involved in the scam, but could not confirm BH Haroon's involvement. And, accordingly, The Daily Star mentioned it in its report.
Different documents, including Khalilur's letters to the finance minister, Bangladesh Bank Governor and the chairman of the Anticorruption Commission showed that Haroon pocketed his money by abusing his power as vice chairman of
the bank. Those documents showed that the then branch manager of Bangshal and some other officials at the head office collaborated with Haroon.
The Daily Star also found that Khalilur and Haroon are from the same area in Jhalakathi, and they have known each other for 25 years. Khalilur, also joint secretary general of Jatiya Party (Manju), had partnership in construction business with Haroon and his brother Mojibul Haque Kamal for 12 years.
In the report, The Daily Star raised two vital issues - video footage and loan adjustment — which neither Haroon nor the bank responded to in their rejoinders. When told that
there must be video footage of who took the money from the bank, Shamsuddin Chowdhury, the then manager of Bangshal branch said, "Yes, there should be..."
It was also a big surprise why the bank did not adjust its Tk 4.5 crore loans to Khalilur Rahman, who had Tk 134 crore in his account. When The Daily Star asked BH Haroon and the bank’s top management why Khalilur's loans had not been adjusted from his account, they failed to come up with an answer.
Haroon also claimed that no bank officials were involved in this case. But he did not make it clear as to how he was sure about that without carrying out any investigation.