Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur has said no one should buy properties that do not have bank mortgages from S. Alam Group, as depositors would be refunded by banks after selling those.
During a press conference on Wednesday, he was asked about the Bangladesh Bank’s course of action regarding S Alam Group trying to sell properties that do not have bank mortgages.
In this regard, the governor said, “It has to be done through a legal process. We will ask the government to take action. And no one should buy the assets of this group. The money will be returned to the depositors by selling these assets.”
The governor said anyone who buys S. Alam’s assets may face legal challenges. “We urge everyone not to touch those.”
Ahsan H. Mansur said that S. Alam was the first person who systematically looted banks.
“I’m not aware of anyone else in the world who has executed a bank robbery in such a well-planned manner,” added Mansur, a former senior IMF official with experience in various countries.
Speaking about forming a banking commission, the governor said, “The Bangladesh Bank will be included in the commission. It will be formed within a month. The commission will include foreign experts. We will also check how Sri Lanka did it.”
On Islami Bank, he said the bank’s new board has been ordered to submit a work plan within a week.
“There is no option to lie idle, and they have to work. The Bangladesh Bank will provide all sorts of assistance in this regard. If they are not cooperative, the board will be changed again. Everyone is being monitored. No one will be spared if irregularities are found.”
Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC shows Tk20,547 crore in large loans (which Shariah banks officially call investments) taken by S Alam Group, the controversial conglomerate that took over the bank in 2017 with political backing from the previous government.
The bank also disbursed Tk3, 047 crore in large loans to Nabil Group, known to be a distributor of S Alam in Rajshahi.
These two groups took Tk23,594 crore from Islami Bank under large loans until December 2023, according to the bank’s latest annual report.
The amount was 14.74 percent of the bank’s total disbursed loan amount in 2023.
Last year, Islami Bank’s loan disbursement amount stood at Tk160,026 crore.
The annual report mentioned 39 large borrowers’ loan amounts.
Among the borrowers, the number of S Alam Group companies was nine and the number of Nabil Group companies was two.
From the Islami Bank, S Alam Steels and Sugar borrowed Tk4,216 crore, S Alam Vegetable Oil Tk4,100 crore, S Alam Super Edible Oil Tk3,986 crore, S Alam Cold Rolled Steels Tk1,911 crore, Chemon Ispat Tk1,644 crore, Unitex LPG Tk1,615 crore, Unitex Steel Mill Tk605 crore, Infinite CR Strips Tk1,476 crore, and Ideal Flour Mill Tk1,042 crore.
Nabil Group directly borrowed Tk2,047 crore, and its parent company Naba Farm borrowed Tk1,000 crore from the bank at the end of December last year, according to Islami Bank’s annual report 2023.
However, several media reports have claimed that the S Alam Group borrowed Tk74,972 crore in loans from the bank under its own name, as well as under the names of many companies that only exist on paper.
But those figures did not come up in the bank’s annual report.
Moreover, according to the annual report, S Alam Steel & Sugar Industry, Vegetable Oil, and Super Edible Oil Company have taken loans that exceeded the limit imposed by the bank company rules.
S Alam Steels & Sugar Industry has taken Tk4,216 crore even though they have a loan limit of Tk4,000 crore, showed the data until December last year.
On the other hand, the loan limit of S Alam Vegetable Oil was Tk3,840 crore, but the total loan amount stands at Tk4,100 crore.
S Alam Super Edible Oil has a limit of Tk3,840 crore loans, but Tk3,980 crore has been taken.