Business Report :
With the ousted government’s support, two controversial businessmen – Salman F Rahman and Saiful Alam Masud – were able to loot about TK82,000 crore from different banks in the country through their various organizations.
Sources say that by accumulating wealth through often unethical means, Salman F Rahman was able to bag Tk36,865 crore ever since the Awami League came into power in 2009.
But now, as Salman F Rahman was arrested from the capital’s Sadarghat area on Tuesday, regulators are finally taking a stand against corruption.
As former private sector adviser to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and vice-chairman of Beximco Group, Salman F Rahman and companies associated with him owe around Tk36,865 crore to seven banks in the country.
The banks involved are Janata Bank, Sonali Bank, Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank, National Bank, IFIC Bank, and AB Bank.
From state-owned Janata Bank, Beximco Group alone utilized the entire lending capacity of the bank by taking loans totaling around Tk23,070 crore as of August 14, 2024.
Janata bank continued to finance Beximco-owned companies even after exceeding the single borrower exposure limit through taking special permission from the central bank.
Beximco Group also has overdue loans of $56 million as of 14 August from the Export Development Fund (EDF) in foreign currency provided by Janata Bank.
EDF loans are sourced from the foreign exchange reserve and are offered to exporters at a very low rate of 3% to 4%.
Despite these issues, Janata Bank did not take any action against Beximco Group and continued to provide financing until Salman F Rahman was arrested following the downfall of the Hasina government.
Bangladesh Bank suspended EDF financing with Janata Bank a year ago due to the overdue loans from Beximco Group.
Additionally, Janata Bank has been blacklisted by many foreign lenders due to non-payment issues related to imports by the Beximco Group. According to reports, around Tk11,000 crore of the IFIC bank’s loans were associated with Salman F Rahman.
About 10 of IFIC Bank’s top 30 largest borrowing companies are owned by Salman F Rahman, who also very conveniently happened to be the bank’s chairman.
Among IFIC Bank’s top borrowers are Sreepur Township, which has loans amounting to Tk1,020 crore, Sunstar Business with Tk615 crore, Fareast Business with Tk614 crore, Cosmos Commodities Limited with Tk612 crore, Uttara Jute Fibers with Tk552 crore, Absolute Construction & Engineering Ltd with Tk463 crore, Apollo Trade International Ltd with Tk455 crore, Altron Trading Ltd with Tk449 crore, and Northstone Construction & Engineering Ltd with Tk421 crore.
All these companies are associated with Salman F Rahman, according to a Bangladesh Bank official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Additionally, Tk426 crore was borrowed under the name of Assad Trading & Engineering Ltd, and over Tk400 crore was borrowed by Serve Construction from IFIC Bank, both of which are also linked to Salman.
The 11 institutions mentioned collectively owe Tk6,000 crore.
IFIC Bank also holds several smaller loans linked to Salman F Rahman.
These companies have secured approximately Tk150 crore to Tk200 crore in loans from the bank within 6 months to a year of their establishment.
Under his chairmanship, he allegedly abused the bank’s resources through financial engineering.
Salman F. Rahman’s company Bloom Success International Limited has debts from National Bank totaling Tk836 crore.
