Shahed 'bribed' ex-Padma Bank executive Mahbubul Chisty for Tk 20m loan

Tk 3.5 million to secure a Tk 20 million credit, the ACC says.

Although the loan was ostensibly taken out to purchase an MRI machine for Regent Hospital, Shahed ended up embezzling the money instead, according to the Anti-Corruption Commission .

The graft-busters initiated a case against Shahed, Mahbubul and two others over the allegations on Monday.

The others accused in the case are Mahbubul's son Rashedul Haque Chisty and Md Ibrahim Khalil, a managing director of Regent Hospital.

The case states that Shahed opened an account in the name of Regent Hospital with Padma Bank's Gulshan corporate branch on Jan 11, 2015.

On the same day, he applied for a loan of Tk 20 million from the bank to buy an MRI machine worth Tk 34 million, placing a Tk 1 million FDR as collateral.

The application was sent to the bank's headquarters the next day without evaluating Shahed's creditworthiness, according to the case.

The loan was subsequently approved by the bank's executive committee chairman Mahbubul on Jan 13.

Later, a pay order of Tk 20 million was issued to a supplier of MRI machines on Jan 19. Although the money was withdrawn from Shahjalal Bank's Uttara Mahila branch on Jan 21, the fund was not used to purchase an MRI machine for the hospital, according to the case statement.

Shahed did not pay any loan instalment and after adjusting Tk 10 million from his fixed deposit receipt, he owes the bank a total of Tk 27.1 million.

But before the loan was sanctioned, Shahed deposited Tk 3.5 million in the account of Bakshiganj Jute Spinners with Padma Bank's Bakshiganj branch on Jan 17, 2015, according to the ACC.

The money was withdrawn by Rashedul Haque Chisty, the son of the company's managing director Mahbubul Haque Chisty.

Mahbubul, his wife Rosy Chisty, daughter Rimi Chisty and son Rashedul are the owners of Bakshiganj Jute Spinners.

Regent Hospital had no business relationship with Bakshiganj Jute Spinners. Therefore, the receipt of the Tk 3.5 million deposit made in the name of Bakshiganj Jute Spinners Limited proves that Rashedul Haque Chisty took a financial benefit /bribe in exchange for having the loan to Regent Hospital illegally approved by his father Mahbubul Haque Chisty, according to the case dossier.

Earlier on Jul 22, the ACC started a case against Shahed and three others for allegedly embezzling Tk 15.1 million from NRB Bank. It also sued Mahbubul and five others on charges of embezzling and laundering Tk 630 million from Padma Bank on Jul 21.