Basic Bank directors have told the Anti-Corruption Commission that loan proposals or approvals were rarely discussed at board meetings and that working papers were sent to the directors the night before the meeting.
Apart from this, documents related to loan approvals were also not given to the directors.
The directors said that former Basic Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hai Bachchu and managing director Qazi Fakhrul Islam would approve loans for companies that existed only in name and they (the directors) would be kept in the dark for years.
Approximately 22 billion taka were embezzled through fraud.
However, bank and company law experts have questioned the credibility of such statements by former directors of the bank.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Supreme Court lawyer Ahsanul Karim said, “As per the Company Law, working papers are sent to directors seven days before the bank’s board meeting.
Decisions regarding loan proposal or approval are taken by the Board of Directors. If any director has no objection to the loan proposals then it is deemed that the loan has been approved unanimously in the meeting of the board of directors.”
Lawyer Ahsanul Karim also said, “As per law, there is no obligation for the directors to sign the resolution. The directors of Basic Bank cannot say that they did not know anything about the loan scam or that they were kept in the dark.” The chairman and the MD have done everything. In fact, the directors cannot in any way escape the liabilities of the loan scam of Basic Bank.”
In September 2015, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed 59 cases alleging embezzlement and laundering of Taka 22.65 billion from Basic Bank.
Sheikh Abdul Haye was not made an accused in these cases. However, there were allegations that Sheikh Abdul Hai was the mastermind behind turning the state-owned prestigious bank into a bank of loan scams.