Al-Arafah Islami Bank former chairman Abdus Samad Labu, brother of S Alam, has allegedly embezzled Tk 10 crore from the bank鈥檚 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund, according to a Bangladesh Bank inspection report.
The money was withdrawn using checks issued by the chairman through his driver Md. Ripon, Golam Kibria, and his personal secretary Mohammad Piaru.
BB investigations found Tk 1.5 crore in Piaru鈥檚 bank account, an amount inconsistent with his known sources of income.
He was also given promotions every year and received nine salary increases in a single year. The bank has already terminated him.
The whole CSR fund amount was allegedly withdrawn by the former chairman.
The bank was previously under the control of controversial businessman Mohammad Saiful Alam, popularly known as S Alam.
Following the change in government, Bangladesh Bank appointed independent directors to the bank.
Under their initiative, along with Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 oversight, an audit is currently underway.
Besides, the Managing Director of the Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Farman R Chowdhury , along with Deputy Managing Director (DMD) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mohammad Nadim, took excess salary under the guise of an 鈥榠ncentive bonus鈥�, violating Bangladesh Bank regulations, according to the central bank inspection.
However, they have already returned the additional Tk 54 lakh taken as bonuses.
According to the findings, MDs and DMDs appointed on a contractual basis are not entitled to provident funds or certain other benefits.
However, they bypassed Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 BRPD Circular No. 15 and the bank鈥檚 service rules to receive these additional benefits.
Farman Chowdhury couldn鈥檛 be reached for comments.
DMD Nadim told 抖阴精品 that that they had been awarded an incentive bonus after their team became runner-up in an inter-bank football tournament, which was approved by the board.
When Bangladesh Bank objected to this payment, we returned the money.
He said that he received Tk 1.9 lakh while Farman Chowdhury received Tk 51 lakh.
