Arrest warrant issued against ex-Basic Bank chair Bacchu, family

A Dhaka court has issued an arrest warrant against former Basic Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his four family members in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of embezzlement and money laundering of around Tk 95 crore.

Judge Mohammed Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court issued the arrest warrant on Thursday (September 12), taking the charge sheet of the case into cognizance.

Arrest warrant was also issued against Bacchu’s wife Shireen Akhtar, his brother Sheikh Shahriar Panna, Bacchu’s sons Sheikh Rafa Hai and Sheikh Sabit Hai Anik, and Hotel Le Meridien owner Amin Ahmed, now on bail.

ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir confirmed the information.

ACC’s Dhaka integrated district office deputy director Nurul Huda filed the case against Bacchu and others for embezzling and laundering of about Tk 95 crore on October 3, 2023.

After the investigation, ACC Assistant Director Neyamul Hasan Ghazi submitted the charge sheet to the court on June 5 last.

According to the ACC findings, accused Bacchu entered into an agreement with another accused Amin for the purchase of a plot of 30.25 katha in size in the Cantonment Bazar area on July 8, 2012.

The land was valued at Tk 110 crore, and Tk 10 crore was paid at the time of signing.

Bacchu tried to hide his illegal income while also understated the value of the land at Tk 94 crore 75 lakh in the registration, depriving the government of over Tk 8.52 crore in revenue, according to the case statement.

This is the first charge sheet against Bacchu for accumulating illegal wealth.

Earlier in June 2023, the ACC submitted charge sheets to the respective Dhaka court against 147 people, including Bacchu, in connection with 59 loan scam cases filed about eight years ago over the embezzlement of Tk 2,266 crore from the Basic Bank.

However, no other member of the Bacchu-led bank board was accused on any charge sheet, though there were allegations against some board members in the much-talked-about loan scams.

ACC findings show that numerous officials, including the former chairman of the Basic Bank, owners of various companies, and others, abused their power for dishonest purposes to take out loans from the bank against mortgages that were fake, overvalued, or nonexistent.

According to the ACC case statements, the accused took out a total of about Tk 2,265.68 crore from the Basic Bank in the guise of loans.

Among the 147 accused, 46 are bank officials, including Bacchu and the bank’s company secretary, Shah Alam Bhuyain, while 101 are borrowers.

Bacchu and Shah Alam were made accused in 58 of the 59 cases filed.

Their names were not mentioned in the first information reports of the cases but were included in charge sheets after the ACC, during the investigation, found their involvement in wrongdoing.

Earlier, on January 21, 2023, the High Court expressed its frustration over the non-submission of charge sheets in the cases filed in connection with the Basic Bank loan scams.

The HC also directed the ACC to submit a full progress report on 56 cases within a month.

Following the order, the ACC informed the High Court informed the High Court on February 23, 2023, that about Tk 3,100 crore out of the Tk 4,500 crore stashed away in the Basic Bank scams were recovered and deposited in the government treasury.

In 2015, the ACC filed 56 cases regarding loan scams. Later, three other cases were filed between 2019 and 2020 against 156 people. Bacchu was not named in the cases.