The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday filed another four cases against former Basic Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and his family members, accusing them of amassing illegal wealth amounting to Tk 248 crore and laundering money to Canada.
The cases were filed with the ACC鈥簊 integrated district office in Dhaka-1, following the commission鈥簊 approval, ACC spokesperson and director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossain said.
The development came only six days after a special judge鈥檚 court in Dhaka ordered further investigation in 14 out of 59 cases filed against Bacchu and others in 2015 over embezzlement and laundering money from Basic Bank.
None of Bacchu, also a former Jatiya Party lawmaker for the Bagerhat-1 constituency, and his family members, however, is yet to be arrested though a number of special judge鈥檚 courts in Dhaka issued arrest warrants against them.
The ACC submitted charge sheets in all the 59 cases in June 2023.
Of the cases, only one is at the trial stage, and 58 are at the stage of hearing on charge framing.
In the first case filed on Sunday, Bacchu is accused of amassing illegal assets worth Tk 124.93 crore, concealing information, and laundering Tk 56.57 crore to Canada.
The charges state that Bacchu obtained the wealth by providing loans to 58 fake entities through fraudulent activities and violating banking rules.
The second case was filed on the day against Bacchu and his wife Shirin Aktar, who is alleged to have accumulated Tk 36.51 crore beyond known sources of income with the help of her husband.
In the third case, Bacchu and his son, Sheikh Sabid Hay Anik, are accused of amassing Tk 43.62 crore illegally. Anik is also accused of laundering Tk 87.62 lakh to Canada.
The fourth case on Sunday involves Bacchu鈥簊 daughter, Sheikh Rafa Hye, who is accused of amassing Tk 40.41 crore illegally with her father鈥檚 assistance.聽 Rafa Hye is also alleged to have laundered Tk 74.81 lakh to Canada.
In 2015, the ACC had filed 59 cases on charges of embezzling Tk 2,265 crore from BASIC Bank.
It, however, refrained from accusing the bank鈥檚 the then chairman Bacchu in these cases though he was allegedly the mastermind behind the whole financial scam.
In June 2023, the ACC submitted charge sheets in these cases, accusing Bacchu in 58 out of the 59 cases filed over the loan scam.
Besides Bacchu, the bank鈥檚 46 officials and 101 customers were also made accused in the graft cases.
The ACC also filed another case in October 2023, accusing Bacchu and five others of corruption and money laundering in the purchase of land in the capital鈥簊 Cantonment Bazar area.