ACC to file charges against 8 for laundering Tk165 cr of AB Bank’s money

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is going to submit a charge sheet against eight current and former high officials of AB Bank over laundering Tk165 crore of the bank's funds in the name of investing in fake overseas offshore companies.

The charge sheet was approved at a meeting on Thursday. ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharjee confirmed the matter to The Business Standard, adding that the investigating officer would soon submit the charge sheet at court.

The ACC filed a case over deception, graft, money laundering and other crimes accusing eight individuals on January 25, 2018.

The accused in the FIR are AB Bank Former Chairman M Wahidul Haque, Former Managing Directors Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury and Md Fazlur Rahman, Head of Treasury Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, Head of Offshore Banking Unit Mohammad Lokman, Head of Corporate Banking Mohammad Mahfuz Ul Islam, Senior Vice President Md Nurul Azim and AB Bank's client Atlantic Enterprise Proprietor Saiful Haque.

Senior vice president Md Nurul Azim has been excluded from the case because no evidence was found against him, according to the ACC. However, the bank's director Sayed Afzal Hasan Uddin has been accused in the new charge sheet because of his involvement in graft.

In the report, the investigation officer of the case and ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar said, by misusing their power and through deceitful activities, the accused laundered around $20.025 m (Tk165 crore) to Dubai from the AB Bank's Chattogram Offshore Bank Unit. Around $20 m was laundered in the name of investment and $25,000 as consultancy fee. 

The report says international fraud gang members Khurram Abdullah and Abdus Samad Khan in Dubai are friends of businessman Saiful Haque. He introduced them to Wahidul Haque to launder AB Bank money. Wahidul and Saiful met several times in Dubai. Later, Wahidul Haque introduced Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal to them in Dubai. 

They attended the meeting without informing the Bank.

The gang had already established the Singapore based Pinnacle Global Fund. Later, they opened another company named Cheng Bao General Trading, and a bank account was opened in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in its name.

Later, Wahidul Haque and Abu Hena laundered the money to the account in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank without informing AB Bank's board of directors.