Dhaka: A top official of Bangladesh's state-owned Agrani Bank was arrested overnight by anti-corruption authorities on graft charges, a few hours after he was appointed for the top job following the sacking of his predecessor for alleged loan scams.
Acting managing director Mizanur Rahman was arrested alongwith Agrani Bank DGM Akhtarul Alam and AGM Shafiullah on graft charges, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesman Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said.
Rahman was appointed as the top executive of the state-run bank on Thursday by the bank's board of directors after they removed his predecessor Syed Abdul Hamid from his position following a central bank order for his alleged role in a number of loan scams.
"We arrested him (Rahman) late yesterday along with two other senior Agrani Bank officials on graft charges from the bank's Dilkhusha headquarters in the capital," he said, adding their investigation found that the three officers misappropriated Taka 1.08 billion (USD 1,37,05,934) through false papers relating to a controversial loan.
"We have filed a case against Rahman and two others accusing them of embezzling bank money through cheating, misuse of power and criminal breach of trust," Bhattacharya said.
"Rahman was arrested few hours after he took the charge as the acting MD but officially we are yet to be informed about that," Agrani Bank Chairman Zayed Bakth said.
The sacking and arrest of two top officials of state-owned bank on two consecutive days comes even as the country was still recovering from the cyber theft of USD 81 million from the country's official account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February this year.
The Bangladesh central bank governor Atiur Rahman has resigned from his position and three of his subordinates were fired by the government following the embarrassing theft.
