Bangladesh Bank is placing receivers in 9 industrial groups including S Alam, Orion, Beximco, Bashundhara, former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed’s establishment. Their main task will be to find collateral against the bank loan and their immovable property and sell the property to pay off the bank debt.
In addition, a receiver has been appointed to search for the movable and immovable property of former land minister Saifuzzaman Jabed. Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has informed this information.
Janata Bank may take additional legal steps to recover the total amount due from Global Trading Corporation and other properties of S Alam Group. Janata Bank has announced to auction the collateral property of Global Trading Corporation Limited, one of the subsidiary companies of the group, to recover defaulted loans of Tk. 1,850 crore from S Alam Group.
Amid allegations of misappropriation of crores of rupees through loans from different banks during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year tenure, a bank has taken the step of auctioning the mortgaged assets of a company of the group for the first time. On November 1, Janata Bank published a notice regarding the auction in the newspaper. In that notification, the auction date has been announced on November 20.
According to an audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh in 2021, Global Trading Corporation has taken additional loans by exceeding the loan limit without complying with the guidelines of Bangladesh Bank.
According to S Alam Group’s website, the global trading corporation established in 2012 was engaged in trading of industrial raw materials, commercial products and construction materials.
According to the report, in 2012, Global Trading Corporation initially took a loan of Tk. 650 crore from Janata Bank’s Chittagong corporate branch located in General Insurance Building.
The interest on this loan till 2021 has reached a total of one thousand 70 crore 65 lakh taka. Out of this Tk. 617 crore 47 lakh PAD (Payment against Document), Tk. 223 crore 18 lakh LTR (Trust Receipt) loan and Tk. 229 crore 99 lakh CC hypo loan. The amount of interest-principal debt increased to 1 thousand 850 crores in September 2024
