The High Court on Monday cancelled the acquittal of three accused in a graft case for causing Tk 12.89 crore loss to Sonali Bank.The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order during a hearing on a petition filed by the Sonali Bank authority.The accused are former Sonali Bank Deputy General Manager Altaf Hossain Howladar, Chairman of Melba Textile Mills Morshed Razzaque and its Managing Director Zaki Ahmed.
Lawyer Dr Golam Rahman Bhuiyan represented Sonali Bank during the hearing while lawyer ABM Bayezid represented Anti-Corruption Commission. Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin appeared for the state. On January 7, 2013, then assistant manager of Sonali Bank Miron Mia filed a case against the three accused at Shahbagh police station.
According to the case complaint, Altaf Hossain embezzled Tk 12,89,63,679 of the bank during his tenure as head of the Ramna Corporate Branch from 2003 to 2006 by issuing loans to Melba Textile violating the rules of foreign trade related loans.
With accumulated interest on top of capital the accused owed the bank Tk 21,59,84,653, (21.6 crore) then. On May 25, 2014, investigation officer in the case submitted a report seeking acquittal of the accused. On June 30, 2014, a Dhaka court acquitted the three accused from the charges of graft. However, on June 15, 2015, the High Court issued a rule questioning why the order of acquittal would not be cancelled following a petition received from the plaintiff.
