Basic Bank scam: Court orders authorities to crock properties of Abdul Hye Bacchu
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A court in Dhaka has ordered the authorities concerned to crock the properties of former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and four of his family members in connection with the BASIC Bank scam.
Md Asaduzzaman, Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka, passed the order on Wednesday, said Mahmud Hossain Jahangir, a public prosecutor (PP) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The Public Prosecutor said the anti-graft watchdog is holding an inquiry into the allegations of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income brought against Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his family members.
As part of that inquiry, the ACC filed a petition with the court, seeking its order to confiscate the properties of the former Basic Bank chairman and four of his family members, his wife Shirin Akter, son Sheikh Sabid Hye, daughter Sheikh Rafa Hye, and brother Sheikh Shahriar, said the lawyer.
Upon hearing the petition, the court passed the order on Wednesday to confiscate 168 kathas of land in two mouzas in the city’s Bashundhara residential area and a flat in Banani DOHS, added the lawyer.
PP Mahmud Hossain Jahangir further said they placed details of properties held by Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, including assets in the Bashundhara residential area and Banani.
Abdul Hye and his family members own 168 kathas of land in the Bashundhara residential area and are now trying to sell it.
The ACC submitted charge sheets in 58 cases against the former BASIC Bank chairman in June last year.
Between 2009 and 2013, Tk 45 Billion was swindled out of BASIC, once a healthy public bank. Of the sum, more than 95 per cent was sanctioned by the board.
In 2015, the ACC filed 56 cases in connection with the scam, but curiously neither Bacchu nor any of the board members were named as accused although multiple probes indicated their involvement. Later, four cases were filed.
However, the charge sheet against Bacchu, a former member of parliament, took eight years to come by.
Of the 59 cases, Bacchu was made accused in 58 cases, according to officials with knowledge of the proceedings. The ACC implicated 101 clients and 45 bank officials in the cases.