The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed five separate cases over the alleged embezzlement of Tk 8.7crore from Premier Bank through fraudulent advertising bills in 2020.

ACC deputy director Aktarul Islam shared the information at a briefing held at its headquarters.  

According to the ACC, former Premier Bank chairman HBM Iqbal, members of his family, senior bank officials and advertising vendor Mindtree Ltd colluded to siphon off the money in the name of television advertisement campaigns against five work orders issued in 2020.

Mindtree Ltd is an advertising vendor firm managed by its Managing Director, Iqbal Al Mahmud, son of Idris Ali.

ACC records show that from August 4, 2011, to March 25, 2025, a total of Tk 438.71 crore was deposited with Mindtree/Mindtree Ltd as advance payments for advertisement promotions on the instruction of then chairman HBM Iqbal.

Investigators said these advance payments were allegedly deposited with an intention to misappropriate funds and were later shown as adjusted against work orders issued from time to time to legitimise the advances.

ACC officials said that in 2020, Premier Bank issued five work orders worth Tk 9.25 crore to Mindtree for broadcasting advertisements on various television channels.

However, although contracts were signed for airing 100 minutes of advertisements per channel, transmission certificates revealed that only 50 minutes were actually aired per channel.

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Documents further showed that while the bank contracted Mindtree to broadcast a total of 2,400 minutes of TV commercials in 2020, only 1,200 minutes were actually aired, according to official transmission certificates.

During the investigation, ACC found that against the five work orders, the bank paid only Tk 1.06 crore to Mindtree through bills, vouchers, and pay orders, while the remaining Tk 8.17 crore was misappropriated.

The other accused are Deputy Managing Director and head of the General Services Division and Procurement Committee Syed Nausher Ali; directors Mohammad Imran Iqbal, Moin Iqbal, Abdus Salam Murshedy, Bazlul Haque Harun, Shafiqul Rahman, Jamal Gupta Ahmed, Shaila Shelly Khan, Chowdhury Jafrullah Sharafat, AHM Ferdous, and Nob Gopal Banik; SVP of Financial Administration Division and procurement committee member Moshef Alam Khan; Managing Director and CEO Md Riazul Karim; and Mindtree Ltd Managing Director Iqbal Al Mahmud.