DHAKA: Bangladesh police have arrested a textile tycoon over allegations that he was involved in embezzling $192 million in the country’s largest ever banking scam, officials said on Monday.

Officers arrested Tanvir Mahmud, managing director of Hallmark Group, and his brother in-law, a group general manager, at a house in Dhaka, police spokesman Abhishek Ahmed said.

“We made several raids to arrest Mahmud since Saturday night following a request from the Anti-Corruption Commission. We found him on Sunday night,” Ahmed said.

Mahmud, his wife, five Hallmark executives and 20 staff at Sonali Bank — the country’s largest state-owned lender — have been charged by the ACC with embezzling $192 million between 2010 and May this year.

The central bank has also accused Hallmark of stealing another $120 million from the same Sonali branch.

The ACC has described the case as “the biggest banking plunder in the country’s history”.—AFP