Of them, eight private banks will have to pay Tk 1 lakh each in fines while the nationalised Sonali Bank has been fined Tk 10,000, a BB letter said on Sunday.

The BB investigation revealed that Nurunnabi swindled Tk 628 crore out of the banks in the port city showing false documents.

On April 30, the BB sent letters to 10 commercial banks asking them why actions should not be taken against the banks for violating the Money Laundering Act. Of them, Social Investment Bank Limited (SIBL) was exempted from the charges later.

The eight banks are First Security Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Jamuna Bank, IFIC Bank, National Credit and Commerce Bank, Premier Bank and Dhaka Bank.

Different branches of the banks' in Chittagong allowed Nurunnabi to open accounts either in his name or fictitious names and loans in huge amounts were issued through irregular processes.

The BB investigation, however, found that Sonali Bank did not give loan to any fictitious person, but it failed to properly evaluate the necessary documents for getting loans.

The central bank probe revealed that the banks gave loans to Dewan Enterprise, Moni International, Kashem and Brothers, MR Traders, Square International, Nawab Mia, Anwar Mia, Abdul Hannan, ASM Alamgir, SA Enterprise, Hannan Traders, AH Corporation, Majid and Brothers, RN Enterprise and MM Trading, but did not maintain necessary deposits against them.

In April, the BB had also asked the concerned banks to classify all loans taken out by Nurunnabi as bad loans and take necessary legal steps to recover the money from him and the beneficiaries. However, Nurunnabi filed a writ petition against the central bank direction and got a stay order on it from the High Court.