Issuing a strong warning to the Anti-Corruption Commission over its failure to press charges in any of the 56 Basic Bank loan scam cases in the last seven years, the High Court yesterday directed the graft watchdog to complete the investigations of the cases and submit the reports to the lower court concerned in three months “without fail”.
If the ACC fails to submit the investigation reports in three months after receiving the verdict and order of the HC, appropriate legal action would be taken against the commission, the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat Lizu said in a verdict.
The HC bench delivered the judgment after holding a hearing on three rules that asked the ACC and the state to explain why Mohammad Ali, former manager of the state-owned Basic Bank’s Shantinagar branch, should not be granted bail in three graft cases filed by the ACC.
The HC, however, denied him bail saying that he as the key official of the bank’s Shantinagar branch cannot avoid the responsibility of the misappropriation of money.
It appears from the relevant documents that being the branch manager, Mohammad Ali sent the loan proposals to the bank’s head office for approval without properly evaluating the values of the mortgaged properties, the HC said.
The verdict said there is no scope for taking the offences of money laundering and loan defaulting leniently.
“There are so many…
