Top executives of Exim Bank 'threatened', National Bank director, brother charged

A National Bank director and his brother have been accused of threatening two top executives of Exim Bank with death.

A case was started at Gulshan Police Station on May 19 over the alleged incident of May 7.

A National Bank spokesman has brushed aside the allegations as false. The police say they are investigating the case.

Exim Bank Chairman Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder heads the bank owners’ group Bangladesh Association of Banks or BAB.

National Bank, the first private bank established by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in the country, is owned by the Sikder family.

The defendants are National Bank Director Ron Haque Sikder and his brother Dipu Haque Sikder. Exim Bank Director Serajul Islam, a retired army officer, started the case against the duo.

The two brothers are accused of abducting and threatening Exim Bank Managing Director Mohammed Haider Ali Miah and Additional Managing Director Mohammad Feroz Hossain.

According to the case dossier, Ron took Haider and Feroz to Narayanganj’s Rupganj for a visit to the site of a proposed jute mill of Sikder Group to be used as collateral against a loan.

When Haider and Feroz agreed that the proposed jute mill site would not be enough as collateral, Ron asked them to visit the site of the proposed Iconic Tower in Purbachal New Town.

The Exim Bank MD and AMD then went to Purbachal but left because Ron was not there, the plaintiff said in the case.

They pulled over when they saw Choudhury Moshtaque Ahmed, the managing director of National Bank, and Ron on the 300 Feet Road while returning to Dhaka.

Moshtaque told Haider and Feroz that Ron was upset as the two Exim Bank executives did not visit the place he had asked them to.

Ron made them apologise and at one stage he pulled a pistol and fired once from inside his car, the plaintiff alleged.

The bullet missed Haider and AMD Feroz ducked behind his car when Ron trained the gun on him, according to the case.

Ron seized Haider and Feroz’s mobile phones and took them to Sikder House at Banani at gunpoint, the plaintiff said.

Ron and Dipu allegedly threatened to assault Haider and Feroz there and forced them into signing blank papers.

Later, Haider and Feroz were taken to Ron’s father and National Bank Chairman Zainul Haque Sikder and forced to take part in a “photo session”.

The two bank executives were released in the evening, according to the case. Thet plaintiff claimed it took time for him to start the case because of deliberations at the Exim Bank.

Ron and Dipu could not be reached for comment.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on condition that he not be named, a National Bank official said the case appears to have false information.

He questioned the timing of the case. “The alleged incident occurred on May 7 but the case was filed on May 19. And a third person, not the aggrieved individuals, initiated the case,” he pointed out.

Inspector Aminul Islam of Gulshan police said they were investigating the case.

The police would speak to the alleged victims separately to check if their statements on the incident match.