Staff Correspondent

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday approved a case against S Alam Group Chairman Mohammad Saiful Alam and 30 others for allegedly embezzling TK 553.21 crore in loans from First Security Islami Bank (FSIB) through a shell company using forged documents.

According to ACC findings, the accused, including current and former senior officials of FSIB, colluded with Mohammad Alamgir Huda, proprietor of the non-existent firm M/S Huda Enterprise, to obtain fraudulent loans from the bank's Anderkilla branch in Chattogram. 

The initial loan was sanctioned on November 9, 2016, amounting to TK50 crore under Bai-Murabaha (Hypo) investment and TK 55 crore under LC facilities. The approval was allegedly made without complying with standard banking procedures, including verifying the borrower's credit history, business address, insurance policies, trade license, legal opinion, or proper valuation of collateral.

Subsequent investigations revealed that funds were transferred to various other fictitious companies, such as Venus Tradings Ltd, Reasonable Traders Ltd, Abdul Awal & Sons Ltd, and Union Pacific Source & Trade, before eventually being routed to entities linked to S Alam Group—allegedly in violation of the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

The loan facilities, despite irregularities, were renewed annually from 2018 to 2023, during which the sanctioned loan limits were exceeded multiple times, reaching a total misappropriation of over Tk 553 crore.

Charges have been brought under Sections 409/109/420/467/468/471 of the Penal Code, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012. Among the 31 accused are current and former senior executives of FSIB, including former Managing Director Syed Waseque Md Ali, former Deputy Managing Director Md Zahurul Haque, and several others from investment, international, monitoring, treasury, and risk management divisions.