Staff Correspondent

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed two separate cases against two former influential directors of National Bank, Ron Haque Sikder and Rik Haque Sikder.

Charges have been brought against them for spending and smuggling 71 crore 53 lakh rupees abroad using the bank's credit card. In addition to these two children of late Zainul Haque Sikder, five officials including three former managing directors (MD) of the private bank have been made accused in the case. Director of ACC. Benjir Ahmed filed two cases on Sunday as the plaintiff.

The other defendants in the case are National Bank's former MD Shah Syed Abdul Bari, ASM Bulbul, Chowdhury Mushtaq Ahmed, former AMD MA Wadud and former head of Card Division. Mahfuzur Rahman.

According to the statement of the case, according to the policy of Bangladesh Bank, any Bangladeshi has the opportunity to spend a maximum of 12 thousand dollars abroad in a year.

According to that, Ron Haque Sikder's maximum spending in five years is 60 thousand dollars. But Ron Haque Sikdar has spent 61 lakh 52 thousand 225 dollars abroad in these five years. This money was spent using seven credit cards of National Bank in five years from 2017 to 2021. That is, at this time, Ron Haque Sikder has spent more than 6 million 92 thousand 225 dollars abroad.

According to the exchange rate at that time, the amount of money in Bangladeshi currency is 50 crores.

At present, the exchange rate per dollar is 110 taka according to the approved rate of the central bank. According to that, Ron Haque Sikder spent more than 67 crore rupees abroad through credit cards.

According to the statement of another case filed, Rik Haque Sikdar spent 26 lakh 22 thousand 499 dollars abroad in five years from 2017 to 2021 through six credit cards of National Bank. According to the exchange rate at that time, the amount in Bangladeshi currency is about 21 crore 53 lakh taka. Accordingly, according to the exchange rate of that time, both of them spent 71 crore 53 lakh rupees abroad.

Apart from the credit card, it is mentioned in the statement of the ACC case that money has been laundered from the National Bank account to various countries including Thailand. Quoting the investigation report of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), it is said that at least 20 bank accounts are being operated in Thailand in the names of Ron Haque Sikder and Rik Haque Sikder and in the name of their related organizations. As these banks have transferred money from National Bank at various times. Evidence of money transfers was found in accounts from America, Singapore, Malaysia, Switzerland, China, Vienna, Australia, Britain and Russia.

These two brothers spent dollars abroad through National Bank's credit card and then smuggled the money abroad from Bangladesh and paid off the card debt. The affidavit states that attempts to legitimize the laundered money were made through transfer, conversion and concealment. It is said in the statement that they have committed offenses punishable under Section 5 (2) of the Anti-Corruption Act-1947, Section 109 of the Penal Code and Sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2012.

If you want to know about this, the plaintiff and director of the ACC said. Benjir Ahmad Banik told Barta, "Two cases have been filed on the basis of long investigation and evidence." The statement of the case contains a description of the entire incident. More irregularities and corruption are being investigated in the National Bank. Legal action will be taken on them gradually.

According to the policy of Bangladesh Bank, the banks of the country have a credit limit of up to Tk 10 lakh without collateral and up to Tk 25 lakh with collateral in favor of any credit card. It has been alleged that these two members of the Sikdar family have broken all the laws and customs of the country. The officers along with MD of the bank were in the role of collaborators in this case.

A responsible officer of the National Bank told Banik Barta yesterday on the condition of anonymity, "All those who served as the MD of the National Bank for the last 15 years were loyal to the Sikdar family. Zainul Haque Sikder and his children have met any unfair demands they have neglected. They took 10 to 50 percent commission in the name of bank loan disbursement. ACC is currently investigating at least 50 large loans disbursed through irregularities and corruption.

Incidentally, National Bank Limited has been run under the sole authority of the Sikdar family for more than a century. The authority created by the late Zainul Haque Sikder came to an end at the end of last year. The board of directors of the first generation private bank from Bangladesh Bank was dissolved and a seven member board was formed.

Manowara Sikder, wife of late Zainul Haque Sikder, was removed from the post of chairman of the National Bank due to the dissolution of the board. At the same time Zainul Haque Sikder's son Rick Haque Sikder and Ron Haque Sikder lost the directorship of the bank. As the representative of that family only Parveen Haque Sikder was appointed to the new board of the bank. She is the daughter of Zainul Haque Sikder.

At that time, an order signed by the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Abdur Rauf Talukdar, said that the Board of Directors of the National Bank was canceled due to its involvement in activities contrary to the interests of the depositors, such as approving loans in violation of regulations, abusing the powers of the Board of Directors, creating complications in the election of directors. It is mentioned in the order of the central bank that this decision has been taken on the basis of the recommendation of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).

The full control of the Sikdar family at the National Bank began in 2009. At that time, the authority of the bank passed into the hands of Zainul Haque Sikder, Chairman of Sikder Group. He added representatives of his wife, children, relatives and owned companies to the board of the National Bank.

Although there is a provision in the Bank Companies Act that a maximum of four members of the same family can be on the board, five members of the Sikdar family were on the board of the National Bank. Other founders of the bank could not play any role in the last era. Most of the entrepreneurial directors were also dropped from the board of the National Bank.

Late Zainul Haque Sikder was the chairman of the 11-member board of National Bank till February 10, 2021. He died that day while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Then his wife Manowara Sikder became the chairman of the bank. Mainly because of the dispute between the couple's children, Manwara Sikdar took over as the chairman of the National Bank. However, even though Manwara Sikder was the chairman, Ron Haque Sikder and Rick Haque Sikder had sole control over the bank's management. Parveen Haque Sikder got into a dispute with the brothers about the issue.

After the death of Zainul Haque Sikder, Bangladesh Bank became somewhat strict about the irregularities and corruption of the National Bank. In this, the shaky financial situation of the bank started to come to the fore. In 2022, the net loss of the bank stood at 3 thousand 261 crores.