Islami Bank’s Khatunganj branch in Chittagong has taken a loan of more than Tk 67,000 crore from S. Alam Group, although according to the law, the bank’s maximum loan limit for all branches of the country is a little more than Tk.1500 crore. In addition, S Alam Group has several thousands of crores of taka of loan in Islami Bank branches in other parts of the country. This huge loan came to light after the fall of the Awami League government in 2017 amid accusations of buying shares from the capital market and taking control of the bank ‘by force’.

In addition to Khatunganj, S Alam Group has several thousands of crores of taka of loans in Islami Bank branches in other parts of the country. This huge loan came to light after the fall of the Awami League government in 2017 amid accusations of buying shares from the capital market and taking control of the bank ‘by force’.

Managing Director (MD) of the bank is Muhammad Munirul Mawla. Since the fall of the government on August 5, he has not been coming to the office, even when called, he is not responding. He did not respond to SMS.

The bank’s Additional Managing Director Altaf Hossain, JQM Habibullah FCS, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Miftah Uddin, Mohammad Akiz Uddin, Kazi Rezaul Karim, Kamal Hossain, Mohammad Sabbir are not working, they are not available on phone.

Additional Managing Director Mohammad Qaiser Ali has resigned under the pressure of the agitation that started at the head office of the bank after the fall of the government.

Controlling capital of Islami Bank is Tk 10 thousand 414 crores. According to the rules, S Alam Group can take a funded loan of up to Tk 1,562 crore from Islami Bank. Because a funded loan can be taken up to 15 percent of the bank’s capital. As a single group, the unfunded borrowing limit was another Tk 1,42 crore, which is 10 percent of the bank’s capital.

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Funded and non-funded combined, the group could get a total loan from Islami Bank of up to Tk 2,604 crore. But at the moment the loan status of Khatunganj branch alone is more than 67 thousand crore taka.

S Alam group companies have been given this loan under separate companies, the central bank has also given them this discount, although now the officials of Bangladesh Bank say that this loan limit will be calculated by all the companies of the group.

Former director general of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management – BIBM, which provides training and banking degrees to bankers, told the media that such activities have weakened the financial sector of Bangladesh. It is important to take action if such incidents do not happen again.

Jamal Ahmed, the current manager of Islami Bank’s Khatunganj branch, told the media that an initiative has been taken to reform the bank. A lot of loans have come out of this branch, which has exceeded the borrowing limit. The concerned authorities will work on it. I will take charge on Sunday, after taking charge the matter will be looked into further.

Zahid Hossain, the former chief economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, told the media that Bangladesh Bank is more responsible than the Islamic Bank’s board for approving loans beyond the limit. The group took out money from the banking sector using its power. The entire banking sector has collapsed. The central bank has not been able to take any action against them.

Economist Ahsan H. Mansoor, who was appointed as the governor of Bangladesh Bank, told the media that an audit report will be made on the corruption that has happened in Islami Bank. Everything will be brought to justice. But it will take some time.