Sangram Online: NRBC Bank Plc has set an extreme example of extreme irregularities, corruption, anarchy, and mismanagement and misgovernance in the country’s banking sector. For which the sole authoritarian chairman of the bank, Pervez Tamal, and his accomplice executive committee chairman, Adnan Imam, are blamed by the entrepreneurial directors of the bank. At the same time, the Awami League in the guise of the finance adviser’s niece and son-in-law said that some established corrupt people were involved in the occupation of NRBC Bank and demanded to save the bank and dissolve the current board and reorganize it.
It is alleged that the Tamal-Adnan gang looted 8000 crores in NRBC Bank. The owner of this circle is SM Parvez Tamal, general secretary of Bangabandhu Parishad in Russia. He introduced himself as Sheikh Selim’s pet son and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s confidant. With the blessings of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Tamal entered NRBC Bank as an entrepreneur with a license in 2013. After that, he didn’t have to look back. He looted about 8 thousand crores from the bank by forming his own syndicate.
It has been alleged that several ministers of the fallen Awami government including the influential leader of Awami League, Sheikh Salim, barrister Fazle Noor Tapas, Parvez Tamal arranged to give loans to MPs with special facilities in the name of fake institutions. About two thousand leaders and workers of Chhatra League in various branches and sub-branches were given jobs in the bank through bribery. Pervez Tamal took the post of chairman of the bank in 2017 by holding the hands of two influential former governors including Sheikh Salim and Barrister Fazle Noor Tapas. After that, it is alleged that he looted about 8 thousand crore rupees from NRBC Bank anonymously. As several complaints of money laundering are documented, Bangladesh Bank’s intelligence wing recommends action against them. Sheikh Hasina government’s finance ministry and Bangladesh Bank failed to take action against the bank’s chairman Pervez Tamal and executive chairman Mohammad Adnan Imam, along with the controversial board of directors.
Meanwhile, Adnan Imam, chairman of the executive committee of Tamal’s associate NRBC Bank, has been accused of embezzling more than 2000 crore rupees from various banks in just 3 years. Mohammed Adnan Imam is a dual citizen of Bangladesh and United Kingdom. Awami League government has given CIP status to this person as ‘Remittance Warrior’. Adnan is known as a ‘white collar criminal’ among financial sector looters. Kaguje opened a company and smuggled it abroad with a loan of hundreds of crores of rupees.
The most surprising information is that Adnan embezzled a loan of 400 crore rupees under the name of ‘TSN Trade and Infrastructure Development Limited Company’, which was opened fraudulently by making his in-law’s housekeeper the managing director. And against the government work of 120 crore rupees, he took a loan of 700 crore rupees and smuggled it abroad.
It is alleged that Adnan Imam’s accomplices in this robbery were Parvez Tamal, Chairman of NRBC Bank, UCB and Padma Bank. Together, they formed a powerful syndicate of bank and stock market robberies and money laundering abroad. Several former ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and police officers have smuggled huge sums of money abroad through many companies opened in Dubai and UK by the hands of this syndicate.
Mohammad Adnan Imam’s mobile phone WhatsApp for comment, but he did not receive it. After going to the office of his company AWR located in Banani, it was found that he is currently staying in the UK. Shakat Hossain, CO of AWR Development Limited, is in charge of managing his company in the country. Tried to contact him to know his statement but could not speak. Several calls were made to his mobile phone but he did not answer. He sent a message to the same WhatsApp number asking for a statement, but he did not respond.
It is known that the names of NRBC Bank Chairman SM Parvez Tamal and his close associate Adnan Imam have been involved in the case of money laundering abroad. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigated the allegations of their involvement in the money laundering case of former MP Shahid Islam Papul. ACC quickly filed a case against Papul and his wife after being sentenced in a Kuwaiti court in 2021. But Parvez and Adnan, the masterminds of Papul’s money laundering, were acquitted.
Besides, ACC filed a case against 11 officials of NRBC Bank in a separate incident on July 11 last year, but due to financial implications, both of them remained out of touch. It is alleged in the case that the fraudulent accused have siphoned off Tk 78.6 million from the bank and smuggled Tk 5.97 million using the name of a sweater factory called Ixora Apparels. There are allegations that this company has been taken over by Adnan Imam.
Ixora is now operating under the name ‘Vibronium Limited’ after changing its name. Badrul Hasan Patwari is the company secretary of Genex Infosys, another company of Adnan Imam, the chairman of this company. This Badrul Hasan forged the signature of TSN Trade and Infrastructure Development Limited Company Managing Director Mir Khorshed Ahmed (Adnan’s father-in-law’s housekeeper). He also gave fake signatures to the loan deed of Tk 400 crore from UCB Bank.
Despite the evidence of Adnan Imam’s association with Ixora, Adnan was acquitted in this case for mysterious reasons. It is known that Khorshed Alam once worked in a government bank. Adnan’s father-in-law Khorshed took a huge loan and lost his job after not repaying it. After that, Khorshed, who worked at Adnan’s father-in-law’s house, got involved in the debt of the fake company.
When asked, TSN Trade and Infrastructure Development Limited Company Kaguje Managing Director Mir Khorshed Ahmed told Jugantar, ‘I don’t know how they took a loan of so much money by opening a company in my name. I don’t know who signed for me. I can say that I never went to the bank. I am a very ordinary person. You all understand. Even if I know that I have spoken to you, it is my danger. So I don’t want to talk about it.’
Badrul Hasan Patwari, head of AWR company’s legal department, said, ‘I have no association with TSN Trade and Infrastructure Development Limited. I have not signed any document of this company.’
“I don’t know you,” he said in response to a question whether he knew anything about the embezzlement of loans in the name of Adnan’s various companies including AWR. If you want to know this, I will tell you why. I don’t want to talk to you about these things.’
Mir Khorshed Ahmed as Managing Director signed a sub-contract agreement document of M/s Siddique Suppliers with TSN despite denying any association with the company. Badrul Hasan signed as witness number 1 in this document.
According to Jugantar’s own research, in just 3 years from 2017 to 2019, Adnan Imam opened several of his business establishments and many paper companies in names and names and did not return more than 2000 crores of loans from various banks. He has embezzled this huge amount of money with false information through forgery. In 2018, Adnan opened a company named TSN Trade and Infrastructure Development Limited at DIT Road, Double Mooring Chittagong.
Adnan’s father-in-law’s housekeeper Mir Khorshed Ahmed was named as the managing director of the company. However, Badrul Hasan Patwari, the head of the legal branch of Adnan’s company AWR, signed all the company’s documents on his behalf. A loan of Tk 400 crore was embezzled from United Commercial Bank (UCB) Banani No. 11 branch in the name of this company.
This huge amount of money has been stolen by submitting the deed of 5 khata land of Bashundhara residence as third party mortgage worth 10 crore rupees. Badrul signed all the company’s documents including bank checks as managing director. The then head of the Banani branch, Mohiuddin Khan, and the bank’s influential Kaijan were involved in this corruption. A week ago, Mohiuddin Khan was recalled on corruption charges.
It is known that after the fall of the Awami League government, information about various corruption including the approval of this huge amount of loan in the name of fake company came out. The change in the bank’s board of directors resulted in the withdrawal of Banani 11 branch manager Mohiuddin Khan on charges of loan scam.
When asked to know, Mohiuddin Khan told Jugantar on mobile phone, “Now a situation has suddenly arisen. The scenario before August 5 is not the same as the scenario after. After the unexpected fall of the government on August 5, the mood of the people has also changed. We are now victims of the situation. The information you have is partially true.’
In response to the question of what is the whole truth, he said, ‘I can’t actually give you all the information like this.’ The reporter wanted to meet him to get information, but he avoided.
According to the information received from Bangladesh Bank, in 2019, Adnan’s company AWR Development BD Limited got the work of 530 crore rupees for the excavation of 83 canals of the Navy in Bagerhat. Against this work order a loan of Tk 700 crore was approved from UCB Bank Kaowran Bazar branch. Kawran Bazar branch manager Alamgir Kabir Apu and some other influential people of the bank were behind the loan approval of Tk 170 crore more than the working rate. The more surprising information is that the Navy has canceled the work contract with AWR worth Rs.
According to this, Adnan’s company works for only 120 crore rupees. However, hiding this information, Adnan and his associates took the previously approved Tk 700 crore and smuggled it abroad. In the name of AWR Dredger, a loan of Tk 150 crore was taken from Kawran Bazar branch of UCB Bank for purchase of two dredgers. Two dredgers were bought for Tk 80 crore, but a loan of Tk 150 crore was given showing over valuation.
It is known that Adnan did not only embezzle bank money through fraud. 3 crores of sub-contractor is also stuck in the grip of this fraud. The bill was not paid to the contractor by encashing it when the check was deposited in his company’s account. Allegations of this fraud have reached the police station.
When asked, contractor TM Abu Bakar Siddique said, Adnan, the owner of AWR, has opened several companies in the name of servants, caretakers, drivers. In the name of those companies, he took loans from various banks and smuggled them abroad for the work of the Water Development Board worth hundreds of crores of rupees. But did not complete any work as per the contract. I myself have been duped into sub-contracting with him. I owe him Rs 3 crore.’
Those concerned said that Adnan’s IT sector company Genex Infosys Limited and IT sector contractor Genex Infrastructure Limited in the name of One Bank and Eastern Bank have not returned 800 crores of Tk. There is an allegation against the Adnan gang of stealing hundreds of crores of rupees from the market by manipulating the shares of Genex Infosys, a company registered in the capital market. There are allegations of money laundering from NRBC Bank by taking loan of huge amount of money anonymously.
Apart from this, Adnan’s Kaguje company was embezzled with Tk 10 crore in the name of Arnita Agro, Tk 30 crore in the name of NES Trading and Tk 10 crore in the name of Lanta Service. And under the influence of NRBC Bank as a director, a loan of Tk 200 crore has been given without any mortgage in the name of an influential person’s company from his own bank. Rumor has it that the gang has bought Navana Pharmaceutical Limited anonymously with the money stolen from the bank.
Who is Adnan: It is known that Adnan Imam is a resident of Rauzan in Chittagong. Father worked in a pharmaceutical company. After completing his A-levels in the 90s, he moved to the UK to study. After completing his education, he took British citizenship. There, he jointly planned a housing business in Bangladesh with two British citizens named Wayne and Richard.
In 2007, Wayne and Richard came to the country and opened a housing business company named ‘AWR Development Bd Limited’ with the first letters of the three names. Wayne and Richard invest a lot of money in this company but in the end they are cheated by the cunning Adnan. They were thrown out of the company by expropriating capital. Talking to the concerned parties, it is known that at least 20 residential buildings have been constructed in Dhaka under AWR. None of the projects could be completed on time. It took 10 years to complete the 3 year project. In this, customers are extremely cheated.
Again, after the construction contract, bank loans were taken for the construction of each building. Most of which were not returned. A 12-storey building named ‘AWR Malinda’ has been constructed on 10 floors in Bashundhara Abasi. On the other hand, the customers are still unable to register the apartments bought 12 years ago due to non-return of huge sums of money with the bank.
Source: Daily Songram