Shawdesh Desk:

The Dhaka Special Judge Court-1 on Tuesday sentenced nine people, including Hallmark Group managing director Tanvir Mahmud and his wife and the company’s chairman Jesmin Islam, to life-term imprisonment in one of the 11 cases filed related to Sonali Bank’s loan scam amounting to Tk 4,000 crore.

Judge Md Abul Kashem of the court pronounced the verdict in the case.

The court also sentenced eight other accused, including Sonali Bank former managing director Humayun Kabir, to different terms of imprisonment in the case.

The nine who got life term imprisonment are Tanvir Mahmud, Jasmin Islam, Tanvir’s brother-in-law and Hall-Mark Group general manager Tushar Ahmed, T & Brothers director Taslim Hasan, Max Spinning Mills owner Mir Zakaria, Paragon Group MD Saiful Islam Raja, MD of Nakshi Knit Abdul Malek, and Abdul Matin.

The remaining eight convicts are the Chairman of Tentuljhora Union Parishad of Hemayetpur in Savar Jamal Uddin Sarkar, Sonali Bank’s Dhanmondi Branch senior executive officer Meherunnessa Mery, Sonali Bank head office’s former general manager GM Nani Gopal Nath and Mir Mohidur Rahman, former managing director Humayun Kabir, deputy managing director Mainul Haque, deputy general manager Safizuddin, and AGM Kamrul Hossain Khan.

Of the eight convicts, the court sentenced Jamal Uddin to five years in prison, while it sentenced the rest to 17 years in prison.

According to the case documents, the convicts embezzled Tk 525 crore after taking out loans from Sonali Bank in the name of non-existent Max Spinning Mills. The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on October 4, 2012 with Ramna police station in Dhaka.