A petition was filed with the High Court on Sunday, seeking its directives to issue a suo moto rule to probe alleged irregularities in appointing 1,173 employees to Basic Bank during the tenure of its former chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu.
Titus Hillol Rema, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, filed the petition with submission of some newspaper cuttings about such irregularities after taking permission from the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir.
The bench may hear the petition today (Monday).
The petitioner also appealed to the court to direct the respondents to submit the audit report of the comptroller and auditor general office on appointment of these employees and order Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu to appear before the court.
Cabinet secretary, banking and financial institution division secretary, Bangladesh Bank governor, comptroller and auditor general, Anti-Corruption Commission chairman, Basic Bank chairman and Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu have been made respondents in the petition.
The report published in newspapers said, "No criteria such as educational qualification, age, written exam or viva voce and recruitment rules were followed while appointing the employees to Basic Bank. Meritorious candidates were deprived of job in this state-owned bank."
"According to a report of the comptroller and auditor general office, massive irregularities occurred in appointing 1,173 employees to Basic Bank during the tenure of its former chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu. The report termed irregularities as 'unprecedented," said the petitioner.
According to a Bangladesh Bank enquiry, around Tk 45 billion was siphoned out of Basic Bank during the period between 2009 and 2013 when Bacchu chaired the board of the bank.
Kazi Faqurul Islam, then managing director of the bank, was removed on May 25, 2014 over his alleged involvement in financial scam.
Bacchu resigned as the chairman on July 05 that year amid allegations that he misappropriated funds by approving shady loans of several billions of taka.
On July 14 in 2014, the BB handed the ACC a report on the Basic Bank scam, detailing how money was embezzled from this bank through fake companies and dubious accounts.
