Ex-chairman Mohiuddin ‘involved’ in Samabaya Bank gold disappearance

Ragged Samabaya Bank chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed was as soon as allegedly enthusiastic with the disappearance of over 13,000 bhori of gold deposited with the converse-escape monetary institution by debtors as collateral.

In retaining with a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and officers, 5,803 bhori of gold were deposited by Narayanganj Cooperative Credit rating Restricted and 7,398 bhori by 2,316 total debtors of Samabaya Bank.

Media reports, citing case documents and sources, suggest that Mohiuddin, who is additionally the joint total secretary of the Dhaka City South Awami League, colluded with some officers to withdraw the gold from the cooperative monetary institution.

Mohiuddin was as soon as appointed the chairman of the monetary institution in 2009 and served till 2022. The incident befell between March and December 2020.

Then all as soon as more, Mohiuddin was as soon as no longer incorporated within the worth sheet of the ACC case filed in 2021 connected to the incident, as he successfully manoeuvred to salvage his title eradicated, sources acknowledged. Furthermore, he’s purported to salvage inclined his influence to stall the investigation for an prolonged duration.

Though this big fraud was as soon as covered up at some level of the old Awami League authorities, the duration in-between authorities’s Native Executive, Cooperatives, and Rural Construction Adviser AF Hassan Ariff made the incident public.

On 29 September, at a characteristic in Cumilla, he acknowledged, “When I inquired about the converse of the cooperative monetary institution, I discovered that 12,000 bhori of gold was as soon as missing. A committee has already been formed to compare the topic, and neatly suited action will be taken against these enthusiastic.”

Officers from Samabaya Bank explained that debtors can salvage loans by depositing gold as collateral. If a borrower defaults or fails to repay the mortgage, the monetary institution in total recovers the mortgage by auctioning the collateral or selling the gold.

At some stage within the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, many possibilities defaulted. As a substitute of auctioning the gold, the then-chairman Mohiuddin allegedly took it faraway from the monetary institution by showing deceptive possibilities.

Between March and December 2020, whereas serving as chairman, Mohiuddin withdrew a total of 7,398 bhori of gold from the monetary institution by settling the loans of two,316 possibilities, essentially based totally on media reports citing ACC documents.

Then all as soon as more, these that retrieved the gold by repaying the loans weren’t the staunch debtors; they inclined deceptive nationwide ID playing cards (NIDs) to repay the loans and claimed the gold that had been deposited as collateral. Consequently, the staunch debtors suffered necessary losses.

When the map was as soon as uncovered, the Division of Rural Construction and Co-operatives, which oversees the cooperative monetary institution, initiated an investigation. Then all as soon as more, monetary institution officers claim that Mohiuddin managed to discontinuance the investigation.

In 2021, the ACC filed a case connected to the missing gold, naming 9 people as defendants, with Mohiuddin Ahmed listed because the highest accused. Regardless of this, he successfully had his title eradicated from the worth sheet, reportedly the utilization of his political influence.

The ACC’s investigation published that in 2020, many debtors requested the return of their gold, which had been deposited at the monetary institution’s head administrative center in Motijheel. Upon reviewing 455 of these capabilities, the ACC discovered that in 335 cases, the signatures and NID little print didn’t match the customary documents, indicating that the gold had been fraudulently claimed by people posing because the rightful owners.