Staff Reporter :
Islami Bank has dismissed eight top officials, including five Deputy Managing Directors (DMDs), following their identification as collaborators with the S Alam Group.
The bank has formally communicated these dismissals through letters sent on Monday, according to several officials of the bank who spoke to the media.
The dismissed officials include Additional Managing Director JQM Habibullah and Deputy Managing Directors Md Akiz Uddin, Mohammad Sabbir, Miftah Uddin, Md Rezaul Karim, and Md Abdullah Al Mamun.
Also removed from their position is Chief Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Taher Ahmed Chowdhury. Additionally, Md Nazrul Islam, Principal of the Islami Bank Training and Research Academy, has been dismissed.
The decision follows increasing frustration among bankers and employees across Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), Sonali Bank, and Bangladesh Bank. Concerns have been raised over persistent issues related to governance, favouritism, nepotism, and delays in promotions.
On August 8, Mohammad Qaisar Ali, Additional Managing Director of Islami Bank, resigned following significant protests at the bank’s head office.
Earlier that day, Anisur Rahman, a top official of the bank’s Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA), announced that no executives who joined the bank after 2017 would be allowed to remain. This announcement came amidst a demonstration led by the CBA outside the Islami Bank head office in Motijheel.
The protesters, who were dissatisfied with recent changes, damaged portraits of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had resigned and fled the country amid a student-led protest. The demonstrators also obstructed several employees and senior executives, including the bank’s chairman, from performing their duties. They accused these officials of illegal appointments and promotions following the acquisition of the bank by the Chittagong-based S Alam Group in 2017.
The CBA demands the reinstatement of employees dismissed after the change in ownership, the removal of those who replaced them, and punishment for executives alleged to have facilitated dubious fund withdrawals.
Eyewitnesses reported heightened tensions at the bank’s headquarters following the Prime Minister’s resignation, with employees and officials on edge.
The unrest highlights broader issues related to recent management changes and ownership transitions at IBBL, which, originally founded with Saudi investment, is now under the control of the S Alam Group.