Ex-chairman Mohiuddin 'involved' in Samabaya Bank gold disappearance
Mohiuddin was appointed the chairman of the bank in 2009 and served until 2022
Former Samabaya Bank chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed was allegedly involved in the disappearance of over 13,000 bhori of gold deposited with the state-run bank by borrowers as collateral.
According to a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and officials, 5,803 bhori of gold were deposited by Narayanganj Cooperative Credit Limited and 7,398 bhori by 2,316 general borrowers of Samabaya Bank.
Media reports, citing case documents and sources, suggest that Mohiuddin, who is also the joint general secretary of the Dhaka City South Awami League, colluded with some officials to withdraw the gold from the cooperative bank.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Mohiuddin was appointed the chairman of the bank in 2009 and served until 2022. The incident occurred between March and December 2020.
However, Mohiuddin was not included in the charge sheet of the ACC case filed in 2021 related to the incident, as he successfully manoeuvred to have his name removed, sources said. Additionally, he is alleged to have used his influence to stall the investigation for an extended period.
Although this massive fraud was covered up during the previous Awami League government, the interim government's Local Government, Cooperatives, and Rural Development Adviser AF Hassan Ariff made the incident public.
On 29 September, at a function in Cumilla, he said, "When I inquired about the state of the cooperative bank, I discovered that 12,000 bhori of gold was missing. A committee has already been formed to investigate the matter, and legal action will be taken against those involved."
Officials from Samabaya Bank explained that borrowers can secure loans by depositing gold as collateral. If a borrower defaults or fails to repay the loan, the bank typically recovers the loan by auctioning the collateral or selling the gold.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, many customers defaulted. Instead of auctioning the gold, the then-chairman Mohiuddin allegedly took it away from the bank by showing fake customers.
Between March and December 2020, while serving as chairman, Mohiuddin withdrew a total of 7,398 bhori of gold from the bank by settling the loans of 2,316 customers, according to media reports citing ACC documents.
However, those who retrieved the gold by repaying the loans were not the actual borrowers; they used fake national ID cards (NIDs) to pay off the loans and claimed the gold that had been deposited as collateral. As a result, the real borrowers suffered significant losses.
When the scheme was uncovered, the Department of Rural Development and Co-operatives, which oversees the cooperative bank, initiated an investigation. However, bank officials claim that Mohiuddin managed to halt the investigation.
In 2021, the ACC filed a case related to the missing gold, naming nine individuals as defendants, with Mohiuddin Ahmed listed as the prime accused. Despite this, he successfully had his name removed from the charge sheet, reportedly using his political influence.
The ACC's investigation revealed that in 2020, many borrowers requested the return of their gold, which had been deposited at the bank's head office in Motijheel. Upon reviewing 455 of these applications, the ACC found that in 335 cases, the signatures and NID details did not match the original documents, indicating that the gold had been fraudulently claimed by individuals posing as the rightful owners.
