ET Desk: The ACC (Wednesday, 28 jan) filed 11 cases against former Premier Bank PLC Chairman HBM Iqbal and 17 others for embezzling around Taka 151.3 million in the name of advertisement promotion.

The information was disclosed by the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Md Akhtar Hossain during its regular media briefing at the commission headquarters here.

According to the ACC, during 2021-2022, a total of 11 work orders worth Taka 198 million were issued to the advertising agency Mindtree Limited for the bank’s promotional activities. However, a review of records and transmission certificates from the relevant television channels revealed that while the contract stipulated 100 minutes of advertisements per channel, only 50 minutes were actually aired.

The investigation further revealed that against these 11 work orders, Mindtree Limited was actually paid Taka 46.7 million. The remaining Taka 151.3 million was embezzled in the name of advertisement promotion.

The ACC stated that the embezzlement involved collusion among former Premier Bank Chairman HBM Iqbal, his family members, several directors and senior officials of the bank and the Managing Director of Mindtree Limited, Iqbal Al Mahmud.

Additionally, the investigation found that between August 4, 2011, and March 25, 2025, under the instruction of the former chairman, approximately Taka 4.3871 billion was deposited in advance in the name of Mindtree/Mindtree Limited. Of this amount, around Taka 3.4229 billion was shown as adjusted against various work orders at different times, while approximately Taka 964.1 million remained unadjusted.

The ACC said the accused abused their power and embezzled money through criminal breach of trust, fraud and forgery by preparing and using fake records.

Accordingly, 11 cases have been filed under sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 109 of the Penal Code, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.