BASIC Bank scam: Bacchu skips ACC interrogation

Dhaka: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will again interrogate former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu on May 15 as he skipped Monday’s quizzing in connection with a case over embezzlement of huge amount of money from the bank.
Earlier, deputy director of the commission Shamsul Alam served a notice on him to be present to face the Monday’s interrogation in connection with the embezzlement of a huge amount of money from the bank.
ACC fixed the new date for quizzing BASIC Bank’s former chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu as he skipped today’s interrogation, said ACC’s Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.
He added that Bacchu submitted an application seeking 2-month time on the ground of illness but ACC only allowed a week.
The central bank sent a report on the scam to the ACC on July 14, 2014 about the detail of embezzlement and found Bacchu’s illegal influence in all the activities of the bank.
According to an inquiry of Bangladesh Bank, about Tk 4,500 crore was swindled out from Basic Bank during six years while Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachhu served as its chairman. He resigned from the Bank on July 4, 2014, as the finance ministry sent a letter to Bangladesh Bank to dissolve the then existing committee of the bank on May 29, 2014.
The ACC filed 56 cases with three police stations in the capital accusing more than 100 individuals, including 26 bank officials, in September of 2015 while the commission filed another five cases last year. But Bacchu was not made accused in any of the cases.