B.Mirror Desk: Sensational information has been received that 8,542 people were appointed in Islami Bank without following a specific appointment process. This incident occurred from 2017 to August 2024. A large part of the 10,832 people appointed were appointed through this process.
In these appointments, no notice was published in the national daily newspaper or a written examination was conducted. A large part of the appointees are residents of Chittagong, especially Patia, the birthplace of Saiful Alam alias S Alam.
A recent inspection by Bangladesh Bank has revealed such irregularities in the appointment process of Islami Bank at that time. The inspection report has already been presented to the Governor of the Central Bank.
According to Bangladesh Bank, the total number of employees in Islami Bank as of August 31, 2024 was 21,551. Of these, 10,832 people were appointed from 2017 to August 31, 2024. At that time, the bank was under the control of S Alam. Of the recruits, 466 were through lateral entry and 10,336 were recruited through direct entry.
According to the existing recruitment policy of Islami Bank, there was a provision to publish advertisements in at least two national dailies for recruitment to various positions. Candidates were given at least 15 days to apply and a written and oral test was conducted. Obtaining at least 50 percent marks in both the tests was considered the minimum qualification for recruitment.
But after the change in ownership and control of the bank in 2017, this process was disrupted. At that time, 8,542 people were recruited without publishing recruitment advertisements in national dailies.
According to the Bangladesh Bank report, changes were made to the human resources policy of Islami Bank at that time to regularize the recruitment process. Clause 7.04 of the policy newly states that in case of ‘urgent need’, the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank can recruit employees at entry level and lateral entry grade according to the manpower requirement. In this case, there is an opportunity to relax certain formalities.
However, the central bank report said that this change effectively ignored Section 7.01 of the original recruitment rules. That section requires publication of notices in at least two national dailies for recruitment in different grades and giving at least 15 days for eligible candidates to apply.
According to the observations of Bangladesh Bank, in emergency situations, a limited number of lateral entry or specialized technical positions are usually allowed to be appointed to keep the bank’s operations running. But Islami Bank has used that provision to appoint more than 6,000 employees at the probationary stage, which is unusual.
It was also said that there was no information available that there was a major manpower shortage in the bank at that time. Rather, the large number of employees appointed without notice was more than the bank’s needs, according to the statements of the officials at that time.
According to the information obtained during the inspection of Bangladesh Bank, 8,099 of the employees appointed during S Alam’s control were from Chittagong division. Of these, 5,148 were residents of Patia. Since Patia is the birthplace of S Alam, questions have been raised about the nature of this appointment.
The report said that the lack of publication of recruitment notices limited the opportunities for candidates from other parts of the country to apply and compete. As a result, a large number of candidates were recruited, especially from Chittagong, which created a concentrated risk in the bank. The report also mentioned that qualified candidates from other parts of the country were deprived of job opportunities.
The inspection found information that a different process was followed in recruiting employees without the notice and written test.
The Islami Bank authorities told Bangladesh Bank that various types of boxes were kept at the Patiya house of the chairman of S Alam Group and the Asadganj office in Chittagong to collect the resumes of a large number of candidates. These boxes had various identities written on them, including ‘Patiya General’, ‘Patiya Cash’, ‘Male General-Satkania-Lohagara’, ‘Male Cash-Gandamara-Baanshkhali’, ‘Female-Cash’, ‘Female’ and ‘Diploma’.
The preferred candidates from the CVs deposited in these boxes were later sent to the bank’s head office. The bank authorities then said that they were given appointment letters from the head office.
Bangladesh Bank has found evidence that the recruitment rules were not followed in the recruitment of the 24th batch of 26 probationary officer batches of Islami Bank. No recruitment notice was published for the recruitment of this batch.
At the beginning of 2019, a list of 840 candidates from Chittagong was sent to the bank’s head office. Later, the Banking and Insurance Department of Dhaka University was given the responsibility of taking their written test. 763 people participated in the test.
According to the bank’s rules, the pass mark was 50 percent. But only 36 people could achieve that mark. Then the pass mark was reduced to 20 percent. As a result, 552 people were called for the oral test. 304 people passed the oral test.
In addition, 12 more people were listed only through the oral test without taking the written test. Later, a total of 190 people, including the first 178 people on the list and 12 people who did not participate in the written test, were appointed to Islami Bank. The remaining 126 people were sent to First Security Islami Bank. All these candidates were residents of Chittagong.
Of the 190 people appointed to Islami Bank Of these, 184 joined the service later.
Bangladesh Bank’s inspection found information about non-compliance with the recruitment rules in several other posts from 2017 to 2024.
During this period, 2,232 trainee assistant officers (general) were appointed, but no notice was published in the newspaper for these appointments. Similarly, 2,828 trainee assistant officers (cash) and 501 trainee junior officers were appointed without notice.
Similar irregularities have been alleged in the case of lateral entry. From 2017 to 2024, 466 people were appointed in this process. Of them, 264 were candidates from Chittagong district.
During the inspection, written statements were taken from 10 officers working in Dhaka at that time to find out details about the recruitment process from 2017 to 2024.
All of them said that they were appointed to the job only through an oral test without a written test by submitting their CVs. Two of them stated in their written statements that they did not even take any oral test.
Some officials said that they submitted their CVs in boxes kept at the house of the chairman of S Alam Group in Sugandha Residential Area and Panchlaishe and at the Asadganj office in Chittagong. They said that they were given oral tests there and later given joining letters.
Information has been found that recruitment policies were not followed not only in the recruitment of general staff but also in the promotion of high-level officials.
According to the provisions of Islami Bank, to be appointed as a Deputy Managing Director or DMD, the concerned officer must have at least two years of experience in the previous position. At the same time, there is a condition of having a total of 20 years of experience before joining.
But after S Alam took control of Islami Bank, his personal assistant (PS) Akij Uddin was promoted to the post of DMD with only eight years of banking experience. Although the previous position required two years of experience before becoming DMD, he had only one year and four months of experience.
On the other hand, DMD Miftah Uddin had a total experience of 17 years, where the policy required 20 years of experience. Although there was a provision of two years of experience before becoming DMD, he had one year of experience.
The Bangladesh Bank inspection report said that the policy changes of Islami Bank after 2017 appear to have been added, revised and changed to provide additional benefits to a specific group. At the same time, the obligation to participate in written and oral examinations and obtain at least 50 percent marks was not followed in many cases.
In this regard, central bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan said that Bangladesh Bank is not directly involved in the internal recruitment process of the bank. This is the respective bank’s own matter. However, Bangladesh Bank plays a role as a regulator of the banking sector if necessary. If irregularities are found after reviewing the investigation report, necessary measures and instructions will be given accordingly.
The board of directors of Islami Bank assigned four audit firms to conduct special audits to investigate irregularities in various fields from 2016 to August 31, 2024. Information about irregularities in the recruitment process during S Alam’s time came to light in that audit.
In view of the Bangladesh Bank and external audit reports, the bank authorities decided to conduct special skill verification tests for officers recruited from 2017 to August 5, 2024.
Two employees filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding the suspension of the exam. The matter was later settled and the central bank said that there was no obstacle in organizing the exam.
After that, the Islami Bank authorities organized a special skill test on September 27, 2025 through the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dhaka University.
According to the bank’s information, out of a total of 5,373 officers, only 402 participated in the exam. All the participants passed the exam and remained in their jobs.
On the other hand, 4,972 officers did not participate in the exam, opposing the decision to participate in the exam. The bank alleged that some of them physically harassed, intimidated and threatened employees who were interested in participating in the exam. In addition, there were allegations of spreading misleading information against the bank through work stoppages, road protests, human chains and press conferences and tarnishing the image of the bank on social media.
The bank authorities considered these activities as a breach of discipline and against the policy. As per the advice of the board of directors, it was decided to take disciplinary action against the employees concerned. Later, 4,685 people were dismissed from their jobs after paying them three months’ salary as per the human resources policy.
Islami Bank’s Acting MD Altaf Hossain said that the employees were not dismissed solely on the basis of whether their appointment was legal or illegal. He said that the process in which they were appointed did not follow the necessary formalities as per the service rules.
According to him, they were given an opportunity to take the exam as an opportunity to complete the appointment process. But they did not take the exam and prevented others from taking the exam. As a result, their appointments were cancelled after challenging the bank’s decision. He said that Bangladesh Bank also considered the matter as an institution’s own decision.