A case has been filed in court against 46 officials of the bank, including the chairman of Eastern Bank, on charges of embezzling Tk. 11 crore from a customer in Chattogram. The court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police to investigate the case.
A businessman named Murtuza Ali filed the case in the court of Chattogram Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sarkar Hasan Shahriar on Wednesday (February 26) afternoon.
In the case, the plaintiff Murtuza Ali has named Eastern Bank PLC as the first accused and the bank's chairman Md. Shawkat Ali Chowdhury as the second accused.
Besides, the other accused in the case are Eastern Bank MD Ali Reza Iftekhar, Director M Gaziul Haque, Selina Ali, Anis Ahmed, Mufakkarul Islam Khasru, Gazi Md. Sakhawat Hossain, KJS Banu, Zara Namreen, Dr. Tawfiq Ahmed Chowdhury, Ruslan Nasir, KM Tanjib Ul Haque, Khandaker Atiq-e Rabbani, Mahreen Nasir, Additional Managing Director Ahmed Shahin, Assistant Managing Director Mehedi Zaman, Riyad Mahmud Chowdhury, M Khorshed Anwar, Mahmudun Nabi Chowdhury, M Khorshed Alam, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Unit Head Md. Obaidul Islam, Mahdiyar Rahman, Md. Mainul Hasan Faisal, Transaction Banking Head Md. Jabedul Alam, Head of Corporate Business Sanjay Das.
In addition, the bank's Head of Planning Ashraf Uz Zaman, Chief Financial Officer Masudul Haque Sardar, Head of Trade Operation Md. Moqaddas, Head of Banking Md. Zahid Hossain, Head of Business Syed Zulkar Nain, Head of Digital Finance Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury, Chief Technology Officer Zahidul Haque, Major(RTD) Md. Abdus Salam, Head of Communication Ziaul Karim, Head of Human Resources Monirul Islam, Head of Business Information Maskur Reza, Head of Credit Risk Management Mustafa Sarwar, Company Secretary Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, Chandgaon Branch Manager Parvez Alam, Nizam Uddin, OR Nizam Road Branch Manager Golam Mainuddin, Corporate Area Head Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director Chowdhury M.A.Q. Sarwar and Senior Vice President and Audit Head Md. Rezaul Islam.
In the case, the plaintiff mentioned that he is the director of Bhaiya Group of Industries. He deposited Tk. 5.2 crore in 2017 in the O.R. Nizam branch of Eastern Bank as savings. But according to the bank's rules, 7 percent profit was supposed to be given on savings accounts. But the bank did not give it. Later, when the amount of money in the bank reached Tk. 6.1 crore including profit, Murtuza Ali transferred it to the Chandgaon branch of Eastern Bank.
In 2017 and 2018, Murtuza Ali opened six FDRs (fixed deposits) of Tk. 5.8 crore in the Chandgaon branch of Eastern Bank and applied for an OSD (secured overdraft) loan against it. While staying abroad in 2019, he came to know about two fake savings accounts and four fake loan accounts in his name in the Chandgaon branch of the bank. A loan of Tk. 9.77 crore was taken from those accounts using his forged signature and incorrect information, and Tk. 5.44 crore was embezzled.
Murtuza Ali sent a written legal notice to Eastern Bank to pay all his dues, but the bank authorities refused to return the money. Mortuza Ali has mentioned in the case application that he will receive a total of Tk. 11 crore from Eastern Bank from 2017 to now.
The plaintiff's lawyer Helal bin Manjur Tamim told Sarabangla.net that Murtuza Ali deposited a total of Tk. 5 crore 80 lakh as a fixed deposit in various periods. In addition, he had Tk. 5 crore as a savings account. While he was abroad, the bank officials forged his signature and provided false information to take a loan on his fixed deposit and embezzled it. He will receive Tk. 11 crore from the bank along with the profit on the fixed deposit, which the bank authorities have embezzled.
He also said that a case has been filed against a total of 46 people, including the chairman of Eastern Bank, on charges of embezzlement of Tk. 11 crore. The court accepted the case application and ordered the CID to investigate.