Staff correspondent:

A Dhaka court has sentenced 11 individuals, including the former Managing Director (MD) of Sonali Bank, to various prison terms for embezzling funds through loan fraud.

Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-6, led by Judge Md Zakaria Hossain, delivered the verdict on Monday.

The convicted are former MD Humayun Kabir, former Deputy MD Mainul Haque, GM Noni Gopal Nath and Mir Mohidur Rahman, AGM Saiful Hassan and Kamrul Hossain Khan, DGM Sofiz Uddin Ahmed, Chairman of Khan Jahan Ali Sweaters Tajul Islam, Managing Director A. Jalil, Director Rafikul Islam and Mir Mohammad Sawkot Ali.

The first seven were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined 10,000 Taka each, with an additional six months’ imprisonment for failure to pay the fine. The remaining four, involved in fraudulent activities, received a three-year sentence along with a fine of over 1 crore Taka. They also face seven years’ imprisonment for deception, with an additional six months for failure to pay the fine. The total sentence for them is 10 years.

The case stems from fraudulent transactions involving pre-shipment credit facilities granted by Sonali Bank between February and May 2012, leading to the embezzlement of over 1 crore Taka. The accused, including officials from Khan Jahan Ali Sweaters Ltd., illegally collaborated with bank officials to misappropriate funds.

The case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2013, and after a lengthy investigation, charges were framed in 2015. Of the 61 witnesses in the case, 41 provided testimony.

Several high-ranking officials from Sonali Bank have previously been convicted in similar fraud cases, though most remain at large.