Mercantile Bank director Shaheed Reza likely to appeal his removal
He asserted the charges brought against him were not authentic
AKM Shaheed Reza is likely to move an appeal against a Bangladesh Bank order to remove him from the post of a director of Mercantile Bank.
Reza, also a former chairman of the private sector lender, told The Business Standard (TBS) on Wednesday morning that he was planning to file a petition with the appellate section of the central bank against his removal.
AKM Shaheed Reza said he would talk to a lawyer in this regard.
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He asserted that the charges brought against him were not authentic, and he has been victimised.
The central bank's order on Tuesday said loans sanctioned for various nonexistent entities involving Prashanta Kumar Halder (PK Halder), former managing director of Reliance Finance, were wrongly transferred to bank accounts of different institutions involving him, Shaheed Reza, by corrupt and fraudulent irregularities.
However, denying allegations made against him, Shaheed Reza said he had borrowed about Tk128 crore in 68 cheques from International Leasing. Of this, he has also paid back more than Tk30 crore.
Leasing companies pay out loans in cheques, not cash.
Asked why he had to take the responsibility if International Leasing had written the names of other companies in their account books against these cheques, Shaheed Reza claimed that he had not done any transactions with those anonymous companies.
However, the central bank order said AKM Shaheed Raza was involved in the corruption and irregularities of PK Halder and had transferred the loan to another institution after its approval in the name of a different company.
As a result of this irregularity, the Bangladesh Bank has removed him from the post of director and, from the day of this order, he will not be able to join the post of director of Mercantile Bank or any other bank for the next two years.
The Mercantile Bank board held a meeting on Wednesday.
Shaheed Reza said he did not join the meeting.
Bank sources said he could not legally attend the board meeting after his removal by the central bank.
Md Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, managing director of the private sector lender, did not answer his phone when the reporter tried to seek his comments on the board meeting.
