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Bacchu 'Let off'

JS body summons ACC chief

Rashidul Hasan
A parliamentary body yesterday summoned the Anti-Corruption Commission chairman and ACC investigators concerned to explain as to why the anti-graft body did not take action against former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu for his alleged involvement in plundering around Tk 4,500 crore of the state-owned bank.
The parliamentary standing committee on law issued the directive in a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban with its Chairman Abdul Matin Khashru, a ruling Awami League lawmaker, in the chair.
The House watchdog asked the ACC chairman and ACC investigators to appear before the parliamentary committee's next meeting likely to be held within a month.
"The High Court has clear and specific directives for taking actions against Abdul Hye Bacchu for his involvement in the BASIC Bank scam. But the ACC is yet to take any action against him. That's why the standing committee today decided to summon the ACC chairman and ACC investigators to know about the anti-graft body's stance in this regard," AL lawmaker Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, who was at the meeting, told The Daily Star.
He added that the HC has so far issued three clear directives about Bacchus involvement in the scam.
“The committee wants to know what actions the Anti-Corruption Commission have taken in line with the High Court directives," Taposh said.
Contacted, ACC boss Iqbal Mahmood told this newspaper that they would respond to the parliamentary body's directive in line with the ACC Act.
In the four years between 2009 and 2013, Tk 4,500 crore was swindled out of BASIC Bank, once a healthy public bank. But what followed was more shocking than the country's biggest loan scam itself.
Multiple investigations found that Bacchu, who was the chairman of the bank at the time, literally plundered the bank with the help of other members of the Board of Directors.
In 2015, the ACC filed 56 cases
in connection with the scam, but ironically neither Bacchu nor any of the board members were accused.
Disappointed at the sluggish probe and ACC's failure to catch the big fish, the HC during a hearing in June 2018 said, "We have to cover our faces in shame."
The HC in June 2018 reiterated its earlier directive on the ACC to bring Bacchu and the bank's three top officials to book in connection with the scam.
The HC in November 2015 issued a rule asking as to why Bacchu would not be implicated in cases filed over loan scam worth Tk 154 crore.
In yesterday's meeting, the parliamentary body suggested that title deeds now be computer printed instead of written by hand.
It also recommended forming a four-member sub-committee, led by committee member Shahiduzzaman Sarker, to find the people responsible for public sufferings at land offices and easing service delivery.
Other sub-committee members are Abdul Majid Khan, Shameem Haider Patwary, and Begum Rumeen Farhana.
The parliamentary committee also suggested presenting a report on how the land registration fees are fixed in its next meeting.