High Court seeks explanation on bail granted to AB Bank official
Last year, the ACC filed a case against two people, including bank official Nazim Uddin, over misappropriation of Tk88.69 crore
The High Court on Wednesday sought explanation on why a bail, granted to former AB Bank official Md Nazim Uddin in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), should not be cancelled.
Nazim Uddin had served as the executive vice president and branch manager of AB Bank in Chattogram.
A High Court bench, comprising of Justices Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and KM Hafizul Alam, issued the ruling.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik and Assistant Attorney General Helena Begum China represented the state, while advocate Fauzia Akhter Poppy stood for the ACC.
Senior Special Judge of Dhaka granted Nazim the bail on June 16 this year. Later, the ACC submitted a petition seeking a cancellation of the bail.
ACC Assistant Director Mujibur Rahman had filed the case against bank official Nazim Uddin and owner of M/S Tania Enterprise-2 Abul Kalam Habib on December 31 last year, over misappropriation of Tk88.69 crore from AB Bank.
According to the charge sheet, Habib opened a letter of credit (LC) with AB Bank, through which he imported a scrap vessel at a cost of Tk111 crore.
Advocate Kamrul Islam Sikder, Nazim's lawyer, said, "The bank's head office approved the loan in the first place, but the case has been filed against the branch manager only."
After selling the imported scrap vessel, instead of repaying the whole LC amount (Tk111 crore), Habib repaid only about Tk20 crore to the bank, out of the LC amount.
Earlier, he had also failed to repay 150 crore to AB Bank in another letter of credit, for which the bank officials had not taken any action against him.
Instead, Nazim Uddin approved the new letter of credit worth Tk111 crore to Habib, the charge sheet stated.