Business Report :
NRB Bank Limited is a fourth generation bank which was approved in 2012 due to political considerations. The sole control and arbitrariness of the chairman has put the bank in a fragile situation. The control of the bank is also now in the possession of the chairman due to the unethical interference of the board.
As a result, there are various obstacles in the management of the bank. As the loan is distributed anonymously, it is not being recovered, according to Bangladesh Bank sources.
The amount of defaulted loans of the bank is also increasing. In view of this, the managing director of the bank recently resigned before the expiry of his term, the bank sources said.
Sources said that Bangladesh Bank had approved this bank to have 100 per cent ownership of expatriates on the condition of bringing the income of expatriates to the country through legal means.
Iqbal Ahmed was the first founder chairman of the bank which started its journey in 2013. After three years, Mohammad Mahtabur Rahman took over the chairmanship of the bank by chance in 2016.
After this change many founders including Iqbal Ahmed were removed from the bank’s board. Also Mahtabur Rahman and his family members bought shares of the bank illegally. At present 5 members of his family are direct directors in the bank. And the amount of shares held by these 5 people is about 25 per cent.
However, according to the Bank Companies Act, a family can hold a maximum of 10 per cent of a bank’s shares. That is, Mahtabur Rahman has clearly violated the Bank Company Act. As a result, he established family authority in the bank. He is also accused of stealing money from the bank. The health of the bank is weakening day by day.
Although the bank had no defaulted loans in the first three years of its establishment, but since 2016, the bank has entered in the list of defaulted loans due to aggressive banking.
At that time, the amount of defaulted loans was 1.9 per cent of the total disbursed loans. The amount has now increased several times to 5.63 per cent. Not only that, most recently, the mass killings that had been organized across the country centering the student movement, Mahtabur Rahman was accused in a murder case on September 11 in the case filed by his brother Anwar Hossain for the murder of Emon Hossain Gazi in Jatrabari on August 5.
Interim government appointed Ahsan H Mansoor as the governor of Bangladesh Bank after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s gov ernment through the popular uprising led by students on August 5.
Since assuming office, he initiated extensive reforms in the Banking sector. As part of this, Bangladesh Bank recently dissolved the board of directors of 11 banks. Mainly due to irregularities, corruption, looting and unethical interference, the boards of these banks have been dissolved.
Bangladesh Bank has not taken any decision regarding this bank even though there are similar problems Bank.
According to the information received from the relevant sources, in 2020, seven entrepreneurs of the bank filed a written complaint with the then Governor Fazle Kabir.
According to the complaint, Chairman Mahtabur Rahman violated policy by establishing family control over the bank, sending the managing director on compulsory leave, undermining the power of the bank’s executive committee, forcing important officials to resign, clinging to the chairmanship despite defaulting on loans and using the bank to expand his personal business.
After receiving the complaint, the central bank also started an investigation.
But they stopped the investigation because of an instruction of the just toppled government.
Chairman of the company Mahtabur Rahman has bought shares anonymously by giving his family members disregarding the bank company law. And these corruptions were detected in the investigation of Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) in 2023.
Earlier also, NRB Bank had incurred huge losses while providing benefits to stock traders in the capital market. At the same time, a com- plaint was also given to the ACC by founder chairman Mahmod Iqbal. It is said there that NRB Bank Chairman Mohammad Mahtabur Rahman is smuggling out the country’s wealth abroad.
He is known worldwide as the international don of money laundering and illegal hundi. Mahtabur Rahman is the main man of large scale money launder ing from Bangladesh. He is bringing the money earned by Bangladeshis living in different countries of the Middle East including Dubai to the country through his company.
When asked about this, Director of Expatriate Entrepreneurs in Singapore Mohammad Badiuzzaman said, “I have been with NRB Bank since its inception and served as Chairman of the Executive Committee from 2016 to 2021. Mahtabur Rahman removed those who were the directors at that time.
He said, “I bought each share at a high price, and bought it in the name of family and relatives. The shares are shown on paper for less than the price at which they were bought.”
On the same issue, non- sponsor shareholder Nasrat Khalil Chowdhury said, “My father was the founding director. Later I was sup- posed to be the director there. After Mahtabur Rahman became the chairman in 2016-17, I had a meeting with the board of directors of that time for 2/3 hours.
But one by one many old people were forced to leave the bank. According to the rules, if someone sells shares, the board has to offer them to all. But instead of doing that, they bought shares themselves. In this way, his share started to increase.
At that time, the founding chairman also complained to Bangladesh Bank about these issues. The new chairman started buying shares in the name of his own people, family. I have spoken on many issues of the bank at various AGMs.
At one point, most of the directors of the board became supporters of Mahtabur Rahman. They all come to the meeting or AGM to pass any resolution of the chairman.
After going to the bank to communicate with Chairman of NRB Bank Mohammad Mahtabur Rahman, it was found that he is staying abroad. Later, he was called through WhatsApp, but he did not pick up. And even he did not reply to small messages.