Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has accused the chief executive officer (CEO) of a textile printing company with embezzlement of the equivalent of nearly US$9 million using inland letters of credit (L/Cs).

Gautam Kumar Mitra has denied involvement in the alleged embezzlement from state-owned Sonali Bank.

Yarn purchases

The ACC alleges that Gautam, who is CEO of Green Printers, opened inland L/Cs worth the equivalent of around US$8.7 million with the Agargaon branch of Sonali Bank.

Gautam allegedly opened the L/Cs ostensibly to purchase yarn and other items from local suppliers.

Bank involvement

The accused is then said to have sold the L/Cs, presumably at a discount, to 26 branches of 16 different banks and pocketed the proceeds.

According to local media, the ACC summoned Gautam to its offices two months after a newspaper claimed to have unearthed the L/C scam during an independent investigation.

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