Two sacked top officials of scam-hit BASIC Bank allegedly invested their ill-gotten money in properties in Malaysia under Malaysia My Second Home programme, said Anti-Corruption Commission sources.

The corruption watchdog received a complaint that the two had bought apartments there.

A four-member ACC team, led by its Deputy Director Syed Iqbal Hossain, launched recently a probe into the Tk 4,500-crore loan scam in the state-run bank. The probe is being carried out on the basis of Bangladesh Bank reports sent to the commission last year.

The ACC has taken an initiative to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia to bring back illegal money invested by Bangladeshis in the Southeast Asian country and to collect information about corruption suspects.

Once the deal is done, the commission would try to collect information about the people behind the BASIC bank scam, an ACC official told The Daily Star.

Names of the accused would be included in the First Information Report (FIR) if there is documentary evidence to support the allegations, the official added.

The ACC team went to the BASIC bank headquarters in the capital's Motijheel thrice last week to collect information. It hopes to complete the investigation and file an FIR within two months.

Several central bank reports indicated that the irregularities in approving loans took place at the bank after Abdul Hye Bacchu had taken over as its chairman in 2009.

Bacchu along with bank's former managing director Kazi Faqurul Islam got loan proposals approved by the bank's board without any discussions on those at board meetings, said the reports.

BASIC bank's financial statement for 2014 said there were weaknesses in the documents of loans disbursed from 2010 to 2014. Besides, there was no internal control over granting loans.

The bank board was reconstituted in July last year. Following an external audit on defaulted loans of over Tk 5 crore, the board recently prepared a report identifying the irregularities and the persons responsible for the scam.

The board had taken departmental action against 39 employees of the bank. Of them, 14 were dismissed and 18 suspended.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has directed the BASIC Bank board to send its report to the ACC for filing cases against the persons behind the scam. The minister had a special meeting with the board on July 7.

After the meeting, Muhith told reporters that the new board already prepared a report identifying where and how corruption took place.

"We have evidence of many of his [Bacchu] non-banking activities. There will not be any problem in taking action against him," he added.