Haque Specialized Group's News

An internal report has detected involvement of immediate past chairman, directors and management in major loan scams and irregularities taking place in BASIC Bank during 2010-2014 period. The bank has prepared its own report on the basis of a number of reports, including inspection report of Bangladesh Bank, report of commercial audit department, two audit reports of the audit firms engaged by the bank itself, and internal evaluation report. The internal report was submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance at its 19th meeting held on Wednesday. Committee chairman Abdur Razzaq chaired the meeting at the Jatiyo Sangsad (JS), where Finance Minister A M A Muhith was present. The report stated that BASIC Bank disbursed loans amounting to Tk 59.95 billion in favour of 187 clients. Of the amount, Tk 51.18 billion was funded and Tk 8.77 billion non-funded. The loans were disbursed despite negative opinion given by the branch loan committee and head office loan committee. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed 56 cases against 120 people in September 2015, drawing criticism from all quarters. The ACC dropped the then chairman of the bank Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu's name from the list of accused persons. Describing various irregularities, the report said BASIC Bank disbursed loans to big and commercial sector clients instead of small and medium enterprises, which was not consistent with its objectives. The credit growth of the bank during the period under review was four times more than that of 2009. No rules were followed in loan approval and disbursement and loans were disbursed without collateral and verification.    Besides, in most cases loans were sanctioned and disbursed in abnormally fast speed. The bank also gave loans to a number of defaulters by violating Article 27 (KA) of Bank Company Act. Besides, 24 board memos were shown as approved by the previous board of directors in the minutes, although the management did not present those before the board. In reality, the memo numbers were given post-facto. Besides there was no board memos bearing numbers 310, 311, 313, 314 and 324. It means the bank's head-office credit committee had no recommendation for those loan proposals. The total loan amount thus disbursed was about Tk 4.0 billion, which were rescheduled later, the report mentioned. Besides, 48 loan proposals were shown as approved under miscellaneous agenda in the minutes of 13 meetings although those proposals were not presented before the board. The total loan amount in those proposals was Tk 14.75 billion. Referring to various irregularities by the chairman, the report said he himself put signature on manually corrected loan documents in favour of Vasavi Fashion Ltd in Gulshan branch. In another case, the chairman himself corrected loan documents manually in favour of Tahmina Denim Ltd and Syed Traders. Two other relevant persons concerned did not sign. Besides, the then deputy managing director Sheikh Manzur Morshed signed the minutes of 280th meeting instead of the managing director. Same irregularities took place in the minutes of 265th meeting. The then chairman used to instruct in writing on the job applications who should be appointed where and to which posts. He took approval of those instructions from the board through the management by violating BB rules on appointment of bank employees. Concluding the report said the irregularities that had taken place in the BASIC Bank are rare in nature in the banking sector. The maximum irregularities took place in Gulshan branch, followed by Shantinagar, Dilkusha, head-office and Karwanbazar branches. BASIC Bank appointed a number of dismissed bankers from various private banks, and posted them in Gulshan and Shantinagar branches. Some middle-men were created to collect loan proposals, by whom BASIC Bank authority collected proposals and submitted to the branches, and later sent to the head-office to present before the credit committee. Thus money was disbursed without proper approval and documentation through irregularities. Meanwhile, in a press briefing after the meeting, Abdur Razzaq did not mention anything about the BASIC Bank's report. He said the government is determined to implement the VAT Law 2012 from July 01. For that various stakeholders, including representatives of the major trade-bodies, were invited in the meeting. The JS body thinks all the disputes centring the VAT Law should be resolved before the next budget to help implement the law and to increase revenue from domestic sources. The businesses should not stick to the current VAT Law, the committee chairman added. msshova@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Railways Minister M Mazibul Hoque said Wednesday a total of 60 closed rail-stations, which are not operational right now, would reopen today (Thursday). The minister is set to inaugurate the 60 stations of 'B' class at a ceremony at Ghorashal Railway Station around 11 am. While talking to a news agency, Mazibul Hoque said: "Across the country, some 188 railway stations have remained closed for a long time because of manpower crisis, and of those, a total of 60 stations will reopen on Thursday. Of the stations, a total of 21 are located in Dhaka division, 12 in Chittagong, 23 in Pakshi region and four in Lalmonirhat district." The remaining 128 closed stations will be made operational gradually, added the minister.    — UNB....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Some 100 shanties were gutted in a fire that broke out at Korail slum in capital's Mohakhali area early Thursday. No casualty was reported till the filing of this report around 8:30am, reports UNB. Mizanur Rahman, duty officer of Fire Service Control Room, said the fire broke out at a shanty around 2:50am and spread soon. Receiving information, 18 firefighting units rushed in and brought the blaze under control around 7:15am. Debashish Bhadra, deputy director (operation) of Fire Service Headquarters, said a three-member probe committee headed by Abdul Mannan, deputy director (Department) of Fire Service Headquarters, was formed to look into the fire incident. The cause of the fire could not be known yet.....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a joint drive have arrested three people along with 6,064 SIM cards from a flat in the port city early Wednesday. Tipped off, the joint team conducted the drive at the flat in Taherabad residential area under Panchlaish Police Station on Tuesday midnight and arrested the trio along with the SIM cards, which were being used for illegal call termination, said a BTRC press release on Wednesday, reports UNB. The team also seized huge numbers of VoIP equipment worth Tk 4 million (40 lakh) from the flat. The seized SIMs include 2,998 of Teletalk, 1,414 of Grameenphone, 782 of Robi, 570 of Airtel, and 320 of Banglalink while the illegal VoIP equipment are 10 GSMA (SIMbox) gateway, three Teletalk 3G modems, five laptops, four routers, 78 GSM outdoor antennas and other instruments. A case was filed with Panchlaish Police Station under the BTRC Act-2001.....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

A Federal judge in Hawaii has blocked President Donald Trump's new travel ban, hours before it was due to begin at midnight on Thursday. US District Judge Derrick Watson cited "questionable evidence" in the government's argument that the ban was a matter of national security. President Trump described the ruling as "unprecedented judicial overreach". The order would have placed a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on refugees. Trump insists the move is to stop terrorists from entering the US but critics say it is discriminatory. An earlier version of the order, issued in late January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle. Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday evening, Trump said the ruling in Hawaii made the US "look weak". He said he would take the case "as far as it needs to go" including to the Supreme Court, adding: "We're going to win."....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04