Loan defaulters, too, secure nominations

Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh secretary general Abdul Mannan has default loans of Tk 820 million with nearly 30 banks and financial institutions.

Likewise, five companies run by the family members of state minister for land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed has default loans of over Tk 5 billion. Saifuzzaman is also the director of each of the companies and he has nearly 10 per cent ownership of the business units.

Despite the huge amount of defaulted loans, returning officers (ROs) of Lakshmipur and Chattogram districts respectively gave them clearance for contesting the 11th parliamentary polls

Not only these two big shots, but also dozens of other loan defaulters secured their nominations.

On the other hand, the returning officers have scrapped 95 nominations, including 33 of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on the same ground.

Their declaration shows that the defaulters followed a simple technique to perplex the authorities and successfully avoided cancelation of their nominations.

They just went to the higher court and earned an injunction on default loans that gave them a relief from the 'loan defaulter' tag.

Asked about the matter, Bangladesh Bank's former deputy governor Khandakar Ibrahim Khaled said, “All parties should come forward to save the banking sector. I would like to request the court not to extend the injunction further on the default loans during the elections. It deprives the banks of a chance to recover loans as the customers pay back some of the loans before the election.”

“We’ve been demanding three separate benches for the banks at the High Court. That will expedite the resolution of the cases,” he added.

People familiar to the matter said Saifuzzaman Chowdhury’s family owned Zabed Steel, Vanguard Steel, Asif Steel Afroza Oil and Asif Synthetics, which have a loan of Tk 5.02 billion. Saifuzzaman owns 10 per cent of the industrial units.

Their companies actually defaulted on the total amount of the loans, but the bank list shows it as regular.

The default loan has been made regular through an injunction from the higher court.

It has been learnt that Bikalpa Dhara joint secretary general Mahi B Chowdhury and BNP’s former whip Shahidul Haque Jamal also secured their nomination despite being a defaulter.

But, Jatiya Party’s recently removed secretary general Ruhul Amin Howlader, Krishak Sramik Janata League president Kader Siddiqui, Mahila Dal president Afroza Abbas, former finance minister Shah MS Kibria’s son Reza Kibria, Chattogram BNP’s Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury and many others failed to secure their nominations on the same ground.

In the declaration, Mahi B Chowdhury said he has default loans of Tk 11.4 million taken from the BIFC.

Mahi, who has Tk 114 million deposited with different banks, introduced himself as founder of Entertainment Republic, chairman of Infolink, MD of Avalon Estate and director of KC Memorial.

According to the BIFC authorities, its official presented the information about his default loan, but the returning officer did not pay heed to them saying that his name was not on the Bangladesh Bank’s list of defaulters.

BNP’s Shahidul Haque Jamal, who secured nomination for Barishal-2, has defaulted on a loan to the Agrani Bank. He also sought a stay order on the defaulted loan.

Agrani Bank’s MD Mohammad Shamsul Islam said, “Many of the loan defaulters took injunction from the higher court on their loans.”

In the declaration to the EC, Sunman Group chairman Abdul Mannan said seven cases of cheque forgery and two other cases are going on against him.

His 30 institutions, as per his declaration, have loans of Tk 19.85 billion in total. Of them, his companies defaulted on a loan of Tk 820 million.

The returning officer declared him a legal nominee despite appeals from the 20 financial institutions, including an official of the Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company (BIFC), while his nomination was declared legal by the returning officer.

A High Court bench comprising justice Mohammad Ashraful Islam and justice Mohammad Ali put an injunction on his default loan.

“We were present at the returning officer’s office. But it does not work due to the court’s injunction,” said BIFC managing director Mostafa Bilal.

Abdul Mannan defaulted on a loan of Tk 150 million at Rupali Bank.

When asked about the matter, Rupali Bank MD Ataur Rahman came up with the same remarks about this defaulted loan.

Association of Bankers, Bangladesh chairman Syed Mahbubur Rahman said, “Most of them don’t want to return the money. All of them got stay orders on the cases and many of them are participating in the election through this process. So, the banks are not getting the money back.”

* This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla online, has been rewritten in English by Toriqul Islam