EBL Chairman among 46 sued over Tk 11cr embezzlement

The Chairman of the Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) Shawkat Ali Chowdhury along with 45 others including Directors, Managing Director (MD) and senior officials of the bank were sued by a businessman for embezzling allegedly Taka 11 crore through fraudulent means.

Murtaza Ali, a businessman and also a client of the bank, filed the case before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sarker Hasan Shahriar on Wednesday (today).

The court took cognizance of the allegation and ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police to investigate the matter.

The accused in the case are Eastern Bank Chairman Md Shawkat Ali Chowdhury alias Disco Shawkat, MD Ali Reza Iftekhar, Directors M Gaziul Haque, Selina Ali, Anis Ahmed, Mufakkarul Islam Khasru, Gazi Md Shakhawat Hossain, KJS Banu, Zara Namrin, Dr Tawfiq Ahmed Chowdhury, Ruslan Nasir, KM Tanjib Ul Haque, Khandaker Atique-e-Rabbani, Mahreen Nasir, Additional MD Ahmed Shaheen, Assistant MDs Mehedi Zaman, Riyad Mahmud Chowdhury, M Khorshed Anwar, Mahmudun Nabi Chowdhury, M Khorshed Alam, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Unit Heads Md. Obaidul Islam, Mahdiar Rahman, Md Mainul Hasan Faisal, Transaction Banking Head Md. Jabedul Alam, Head of Corporate Business Sanjay Das.

The other accused are the bank's Head of Planning Ashraf Uz Zaman, Chief Financial Officer Masudul Haque Sarder, Head of Trade Operation Md Mokaddas, Head of Banking Md Zahid Hossain, Head of Business Syed Zulkar Nain, Head of Digital Finance Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury, Chief Technology Officer Zahidul Haque, retired Major Md Abdus Salam, Head of Communication Ziaul Karim, Head of Human Resources Monirul Islam, Head of Business Information Maskur Reza, Head of Credit Risk Management Mostafa Sarwar, Company Secretary Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, Managers of Chandgaon Branch Parvez Alam and Nizam Uddin, Manager of 129-OR Nizam Road Branch Golam Mainuddin, Corporate Area Head Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director Chowdhury MAQ Sarwar, Senior Vice-President & Head of Audit Md. Rezaul Islam.

 According to the case statement, Md. Murtaza Ali, a businessman and Director of Bhaiya Group of Industries, deposited Taka 5.20 crore in saving accounts with Eastern Bank's 129-OR Nizam Road Branch in 2017.

According to the rules of the bank, he was supposed to get seven percent profit on the savings, but the bank did not give it.

 Later, when the deposited amount stood at Taka six crore 10 lakh after accumulation of profit, Mortuza Ali transferred the entire amount to Eastern Bank's Chandgaon branch.

In 2017 and 2018, he opened six FDRs (fixed deposits) of Taka 5.80 crore with Eastern Bank's Chandgaon branch and applied for an OSD (Secured Overdraft) loan against it. 

During his stay abroad in 2019, he came to know that two fake savings accounts and four fake loan accounts in his name with the Chandgaon branch of the bank were opened by his fake signature and wrong information. Later, the accused in connivance with each other sanctioned a loan amounting to Taka nine crore 77 lakh 32 thousand 867 against his name and withdrew Taka five crore 44 lakh 94 thousand. 

The lawyer of the plaintiff Advocate Helal Bin Manzur said that the total accumulated amount against the FDR has stood at Taka around 11 crore till to date since 2017 and bank authority did not respond to pay the money to his client even after the legal notice was served against the accused persons.