The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday arrested two deputy general managers of state-run Janata Bank for their alleged involvement in abetting controversial Bismillah Group to misappropriate and launder about Tk 333 crore.

The two DGMs of Janata Bank's corporate branch -- Ajmul Haque and SM Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal -- were arrested from Motijheel.

On November 3, 2013, ACC filed 12 cases against 53 top officials of five banks and the controversial terry towel maker for misappropriating and laundering Tk 1,174.46 crore.

Thirteen of the accused are proprietors and top officials of Bismillah Group and its sister concerns -- Shaharish Composite Towel Ltd, Alpha Composite Towel Ltd, Shaharish KT Ltd, Hindul Wali Ltd and Bismillah Towel Ltd.

The rest are officials of five banks -- Janata Bank, Prime Bank, Jamuna Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Premier Bank.

Of them, eight, including Bismillah Group Managing Director Khaja Soleman Anwar Chowdhury and Chairman Nawrin Hasib, have fled abroad, sources said.

After completing the investigation, ACC submitted charge sheets of 12 cases before the court. The court has asked ACC to probe more into the Janata Bank's corporate branch cases.

For further investigation, ACC yesterday arrested Haque and Kamal, said Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya, public relations officer of ACC.

The rest of the cases are at the trial stage, he added.

The controversial group siphoned off Tk 526.95 crore from three branches of Janata Bank, Tk 326.28 crore from Prime Bank, Tk 154.66 crore from Jamuna Bank, Tk 104.04 crore from Shahjalal Islami Bank and Tk 62.53 crore from Premier Bank, record shows.

Of the Tk 526.95 crore, Bismillah Group through its sister concerns—Alpha Composite Towel Ltd and Shaharish Composite Towel Ltd—siphoned off Tk 333 crore from the corporate branch of Janata Bank.

The accused of Bismillah Group created fake sales contract with their own companies abroad and applied to banks for export facilities, according to the case statement.

Later, by issuing back-to-back letters of credit to the companies they pocketed the money without supplying any goods.

On the other hand, the bank officials breached the conditions of approval for LCs and violated the guidelines of Bangladesh Bank to help Bismillah Group in the process, reads the document.