Eight senior officials of S Alam’s Islamic Bank sacked

Eight senior officials of Bank Islam, a subsidiary of S Alam Group, including five DMDs, have been suspended for various irregularities and anonymous loans. Those sacked include: Additional Managing Director JQM Habibullah (AMD), Deputy Managing Directors (DMDs). Aqiz Uddin, Mohammad Sabir, Miftah Uddin, MD Rezal Karim and Dr. MD Abdullah Al Mamun. Besides, Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer Taher Ahmed Chowdhury and IBTRA Head. Nazrul Islam have been sacked.

The bank has sent a letter in this regard on Monday (August 19). An official of Islami Bank confirmed the news to Dhaka Post.

The news of the bank’s funds being looted with the connivance of the president of Islami Bank and some dishonest officials has been reported in the media. The reality is worse. As this pattern of looting continues for a long time, it has become difficult for the bank to operate normally and the public has a crisis of confidence in the bank. In this situation, the bank’s executives and employees are demanding the dissolution of the board of directors and a reorganization. In addition, the rank and file of the bank are demanding the dismissal of all deputy managers of the S Alam Group. The new president of Bangladesh Bank. The employees of Islami Bank wrote to Ahsan H. Mansoor.

The letter signed by ASM Rezaul Karim, SEVP of the bank’s head office, on behalf of employees at all levels, said that the current management of the bank will restore the lost glory of Islam Bank in accordance with Section 47 of the Banking Companies Act, protect the interests of all stakeholders of the bank, restore their confidence and resume normal operations of the bank. I request you to take immediate action to dissolve the board of directors and take necessary steps to reconstitute the board with honest, corruption-free and sympathetic personnel of Islam Bank. Or, if necessary, some of the former directors. It is well known that Bangladesh Islam Bank was the top bank in the country as early as a decade ago. The bank outperformed all other banks in terms of compliance, customer service and financial indicators. It was most important in collecting local deposits or foreign exchange due to the confidence of its customers. But from 2017, the situation began to change. In the same year, due to the government’s political decision, the S Alam Group, which was closely related to the recently outgoing Awami League government, took control of the ownership and management of Islam Bank as a move to “liberate Islam Bank”. In the seven and a half years since then, the business group and the Nabeel Group of Rajshahi have anonymously withdrawn about Tk 50,000 from the bank. This amount is one-third of the total loan of the bank. No rules were followed in withdrawing the money. According to officials, the actual amount of money laundered by the bank is higher than the loan information currently available.

Angry bankers had driven out officials appointed by S. Alam from the bank on August 6 after the government collapsed on August 5 due to a mass student uprising. The bankers were subsequently seen protesting on August 7 and 8. They were demanding the cancellation of the appointments of executives who were illegally appointed after Islami Bank was taken over in 2017. In this context, when Qaiser Ali, the additional managing director (AMD) who was promoted during S Alam’s tenure, came to the bank last Wednesday, he was forced to resign.

Officials demanded the reorganization of the Islami Bank board and the expulsion of the robbers from the bank. In addition, the bank’s employees also demanded the expulsion of A Salam-appointed managing director Monirul Mawla, additional managing director Kausar Ali, and deputy managing directors Akiz Uddin and Miftah Uddin.

SI/ZS