Private sector United Commercial Bank (UCB) has ordered 40 top level officials to resign voluntarily. Almost half of these top officers of the bank are managers of various branches and the rest are working in charge of various departments of the head office. Such a decision of the organization has spread fear of layoffs among all other officers.

The two officials who were ordered to resign said that they were asked to resign only because they were at home in Chittagong, although they were not found to be involved in any kind of irregularities. They never worked in the departments where there were irregularities. However, many in the list were in charge of various departments where there were irregularities.

Some of the 40 officials have already resigned, a source said. It is also reported that many will resign within this week. In all, the bank listed 100 officials for layoff.

It is known that UCB was controlled by the family of late Awami League leader Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury. The business group Pertex Group was associated with the bank from the beginning. But in 2017, Pertex Group representatives were forced to leave UCB. Rukmila Zaman became the chairman of the bank. But since he was staying in the UK, former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury was managing the bank.

In a letter sent to Bangladesh Bank after the political change, some shareholders of UCB alleged that while Rukmila Zaman was the chairman of the bank, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury was de facto acting as the chairman and that the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy due to his ‘arbitrariness and looting’.

The letter also alleges that Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has assets of Tk 1,888 crore in the UK, which have been built up mainly by ‘looting money from bank depositors’. After Bangladesh Bank dissolved the previous board of directors, Sharif Zahir of Anant Group became the new chairman. After that, the bank’s managing director Arif Qadri also resigned. The former DMD of the bank Mohammad Mamdudur Rashid joined as the new MD. The reconstituted Board of Directors has commissioned an audit of seven institutions to ascertain the true financial condition of UCB.

It is learned that some of these audits have already been completed. Many of those found involved have been asked to resign from the bank; Besides, many others have been asked to resign. They have been informed that they will be fired if they do not resign voluntarily. Then you have to suffer to get the facilities.