Desk Report,
Janata Bank embezzlement of Tk 297 crore: ACC questions Professor Barkat
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has questioned the bank’s former chairman and economist Professor Abul Barkat in the case of embezzlement of Tk 297 crore from Janata Bank.
Janata Bank embezzlement of Tk 297 crore: ACC questions Professor Barkat
Abul Barkat was brought to the ACC’s Segunbagicha head office from the central prison on Sunday afternoon. A team led by ACC Assistant Director Shahjahan Miraj presented him there. Later, his first day of remand interrogation began. The investigation officer of the case applied to the court on July 23 for Abul Barkat’s three-day remand. After the hearing, the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court granted a two-day remand. The interrogation began today as per that instruction.
In February this year, the ACC filed a case against the ‘Anontex’ group on charges of embezzling more than Tk 297 crore from Janata Bank. In this case, a total of 23 people, including Professor Abul Barkat and former Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, were accused. Then on July 10, the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective (DB) police arrested Abul Barkat from his Dhanmondi home. Later, he was produced before the court in a case filed by the ACC. The court rejected his bail application and ordered him to be sent to jail.
The case statement said that the accused, in collusion with each other, withdrew money from the corporate branch of Janata Bank PLC Bhaban by cheating, forgery and creating false records. There are also allegations of laundering this money abroad.
Incidentally, between 2010 and 2015, Janata Bank gave loans of about Tk 3,528 crore to 22 companies of the ‘Anontex Group’. At that time, Professor Abul Barkat was the chairman of the bank.
The ACC had started investigating this loan scam in 2012. However, the investigation was closed in 2022 due to ‘lack of evidence’. Then, on August 5, 2024, after the political change, the agency resumed the investigation.
