ACC quizzes former BB officials SK Sur, Shah Alam over loan scam

Former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank SK Sur Chowdhury and Executive Director Shah Alam are being questioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission over a loan scandal involving the International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (ILFSL).

They reached the ACC headquarters in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha before 10:00am on Tuesday.

"The interrogation started after 10 am. Investigation Officer Gulshan Anwar Pradhan is conducting the proceedings,” ACC Deputy Director (Public Relations) Muhammad Arif Sadeq said, reports bdnews24.com.

The ACC summoned the former central bank officials on Mar 24 to quiz them about their knowledge of a loan worth Tk 25 billion sanctioned by the ILSFL in the name of a company that does not exist.

Officials at the anti-graft watchdog say they have lodged 22 cases against the “fake” company for embezzling wealth from ILFSL, which belongs to Proshanta Kumar Halder, the former managing director of NRB Global Bank.

ACC also filed 13 more cases against the company over complaints of misappropriating money taken from FAS Finance and Investment Ltd as credit. PK Halder was named as the main accused in these cases.

He allegedly bought shares in the capital market by opening up numerous fake companies and took control of at least four financial institutions, that are not banks, putting relatives, friends and former colleagues on the board before and after the 2014 general election.

These institutions are ILFSL, People’s Leasing and Financial Services, FAS Finance and Investment Ltd and Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company.

Investigators say Halder laundered huge amounts of wealth abroad as loans through these companies. In January 2020, he fled overseas in the face of complaints from ILFSL customers.