Khulna Correspondent : In reality, they did not export fish. However, they made fake export bills and sold them to state-owned Rupali Bank. About Tk 150 crore of the bank has been stuck. Apart from this, they have taken another Tk 40 crore from the government fund as cash assistance against fake exports. In this way, they have cheated about Tk 190 crore by creating fake export documents, i.e. three companies. This information is initially available. The amount of money embezzled may be more or less. The incident took place at Rupali Bank’s Shams Building branch in Khulna. A special inspection team of Bangladesh Bank and an internal team of Rupali Bank are now working separately to find out the details of the incident and identify the guilty persons. Preliminary reports from both parties revealed the fraud.

The three companies accused of illegally withdrawing money from Rupali Bank are Priam Fish Export Limited, Bionic Sea Food Export Limited and SM Corporation. The first two companies are members of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association. The charges were filed against three companies namely Priam Fish Export Limited, Bionic Sea Food Export and SM Corporation. Two officials of Rupali Bank have already been suspended over the incident. They are Zakir Ibn Borak, former manager and deputy general manager (DGM) of the bank, and Murad Hossain, senior principal officer of the bank. Bilkish Ara, the current manager of Rupali Bank’s Shams Building branch in Khulna, said the audit team of the head office is working on the matter. He expressed his reluctance to talk to Prothom Alo and suggested talking to the head office. When contacted, Rupali Bank Managing Director (MD) Mohammad Jahangir said, “The institutions are old customers of our bank. He also received the Fisheries Medal. We are trying to recover the money taken. Some were also recovered. ’

How to embezzle : All the three companies that embezzled the bank’s money are very old customers of Rupali Bank’s Shams Building branch in Khulna. They export processed fish. Priam Fish Export Limited also received the National Fisheries Medal. As a result, the bank had a lot of confidence in the customer. It is known that since the three companies were exporters, the bank was also very generous to them due to the dollar crisis that has been going on for one and a half years. Fish exporters do not have the cost of importing raw materials, so the entire amount of their export income increases the supply of dollars in the country. Bank officials finance their needs with the idea that the country’s export earnings will increase and dollars will come if they are given benefits. But the companies have misused that opportunity. After exporting goods, the export companies buy the bill bank. Because, after the goods are exported, the export income needs time to come to the country. Then again, businessmen also need regular money to run the business. That’s why the bank bought their export bills. That is, the bank pays money against the export bill. After that, when the export income comes to the country, the bank deducts their dues and commission and gives the rest to the customer. Usually, the entrepreneurs of the garment sector get this benefit. In the export of fish and vegetables, money comes first, goods go later. Still, the bills of these three companies have been purchased. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the companies created fake export bills and handed them over to the banks.

Officials of Bangladesh Bank and Rupali Bank said that besides buying fake export bills worth Tk 150 crore of the three companies, export subsidy of Tk 40 crore has been given from the government fund. Among them, Priam Fish factory is in Char Rupsa area of Bagmara in Khulna. Its Managing Director (MD) Abdul Quader and Bionic Sea Food’s office is at KDA Avenue in Khulna. Its MD Siddiqur Rahman. However, SM Corporation could not be traced. When contacted, Priam Fish MD Abdul Quader told Prothom Alo, “I export fish worth Tk 180-190 crore every year through that branch. I also take regular government incentives. Nothing like this has happened yet. Siddiqur Rahman of Bionic Sea Food did not respond to a request for comment.

Six times the loan : The Shams Building branch of Rupali Bank in Khulna is mainly known as ‘Khulna Fish Traders Branch’. However, the branch has lent more than six times the amount of deposit it has received. At the end of August last year, the deposit amount of the branch was Tk 147 crore. On the other hand, the debt position stood at Rs 906 crore during the same period. The branch has lent so much, mainly with funds from the head office. The branch purchased a large number of foreign bill purchases (FBPs) or export bills, but it did not come to the notice of the head office. Again, there are many questions about where so much of the branch’s debt went. Several officials of Rupali Bank’s head office told Prothom Alo, “There has been a major fraud. When the entire bank does not buy a bill of Tk 50 crore, how can a bill of Tk 150 crore be purchased at a branch in Khulna? If you go by the rules, it’s supposed to get stuck at the beginning. ’ Bangladesh Bank officials said that similar irregularities have been committed in this branch in the past. Despite repeated warnings, they did not listen. In June 2020, the amount of bad loans in Rupali Bank was Tk 4,167 crore, which increased to Tk 8,244 crore in June last year. In other words, bad loans have doubled in three years. The bank is not able to maintain adequate security against bad loans and other investments. This is taking extra time from the central bank.

Bangladesh Bank has directed the bank to keep security reserves of Tk 8,180 crore to finalize the annual account of 2022. However, the bank has been able to keep Tk 2,133 crore from the profit. Bangladesh Bank has given the bank time till this year to keep the security reserves of the remaining Tk 6,084 crore. As a result, the bank has got the opportunity to make a profit of Tk 21 crore. However, the only state-listed bank could not pay any dividend to investors. Meanwhile, around Tk 16 crore has been embezzled at Joynagar branch of Rupali Bank in Gopalganj district. Mofizur Rahman, the manager of the branch, has been absconding since the embezzlement case was leaked. Mofizur Rahman, Deputy General Manager (DGM) Abdul Mannan and officer Shahidul Islam have been suspended. Rupali Bank Chairman Sanaul Haque did not respond to multiple calls seeking comment.