Citycell CEO gets bail in bank loan embezzlement case

Dhaka – A court here on Sunday granted bail to Mehboob Chowdhury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of mobile phone operator Citycell, in a case filed for embezzlement of bank loan. -UNB
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Laskar Sohel Rana passed the order when Mehboob’s counsel Quamrul Islam Shikdar filed a petition for his bail.
Sheikh Abdus Salam, deputy director of the Anti-corruption Commission and also the investigation officer of the case, filed a petition before the court for sending him to jail.
Earlier, on Saturday, a team of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested Mehboob Chowdhury from Shahjalal International Airport in the case.
The ACC filed a case against 16 people on Wednesday, including Mehboob, for embezzling Tk 383 cr of AB Bank.
Former Jatiya Party MP from Natore-1 constituency M Abu Talha, former commissioner of Mongla Customs House Md Nurul Islam, and AB Bank’s Managing Director Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury are among the accused.
The other accused are current and former officials of the bank and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited. Citycell is the brand name of the company.
During its investigation, the ACC found that the bank officials had given an unconditional bank guarantee to PBTL (Citycell) following their application, violating the bank rules.
Using the bank guarantee, PBTL took the huge amount of loan from eight different banks.