Matiur to be removed from the post of Sonali Bank director

National Board of Revenue (NBR) member and director of state owned Sonali Bank PLC Matiur Rahman, who came into limelight lately after a video of his son purchasing a sacrificial animal (a goat) at an extravagant price went viral on social media, is likely to be removed from his post.

He is not attending the meeting of the governing body of the bank which started at 11:00 am Sunday either. Ziaul Hasan Sidduque, panel chairman of the bank, is presiding over the meeting today.

Sources in the Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry and Sonali Bank confirmed this. They said Matiur was verbally asked to not attend the governing body meeting today. The bank authorities also suggested that he better refrain from attending the meeting and he accepted that.

Ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, a video of his son buying a goat at Tk 1.5 million from Sadik Agro in the capital’s Mohammadpur area went viral on social media. The netizens also found that he purchased cows worth Tk 7 million from different farms in the capital.

Since then, Matiur Rahman's son’s luxurious lifestyle, including expensive brand watches and cars,  properties he owned, including resorts, shooting houses, bungalow houses and lands he and his family members became the talk of the country.

Matiur Rahman is the president of the Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal as well as the director of Sonali Bank. The Financial Institutions Department recommended his appointment as the director of Sonali Bank for three years on 1 February 2022. Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah was the secretary of the Financial Institutions Department at that time, who retired last month after not being reappointed.

Sources said Sheikh Mohammad Selim Ullah didn’t want to appoint him as the director of the Sonali Bank as he was aware of Maiur’s nature from before. However, he could not refuse the recommendation from the then finance secretary Abdur Rauf.

This correspondent tried to reach the then finance secretary and incumbent governor of the Bangladesh Bank Abdur Rauf through WhatsApp messages, but he didn’t respond. Even Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah didn’t respond either.

Following the recommendations from the Financial Institutions Division, the Sonali Bank governing body didn’t raise further questions regarding his appointment. The Bangladesh Bank also approved the appointment without any hassle.

However, as stories of Matiur’s enormous assets achieved through illegal means started surfacing in recent times, the other board directors objected. They said they don’t want Matiur Rahman in the board of directors’ meeting anymore.

This correspondent tried Matiur Rahman over the phone thrice this morning for his comment in this regard. However, he didn’t receive the call.

Headed by former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Ziaul Hasan Siddique, the governing body of the Sonali Bank includes, former professor of computer science and engineering department of BUET, Mohammad Kaykobad, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank, Abul Kalam Azad, former additional secretary of Financial Institutions Department, ABM Ruhul Azad, Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation former deputy general manager Daulatunnahar Khanam, former general manager of the Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Mollah Abdul Wadud and chartered accountant (CA) firm, Basu Banerjee Nath & Company Managing Partner Gopal Chandra Ghosh.

The bank sources said, after being appointed as the director, he always tried to intervene in the proposals for big loans. However, he eventually failed due to the bold role played by the other members of the panel. Later, he focused on proposals for small loans which didn’t appear in the board meeting for approval.

Asked about this, Financial Institutions Division’s new secretary Abdur Rahman Khan denied commenting in this regard.

However, speaking to other top officials of the Financial Institutions Division, it has been learned that Matiur Rahman is likely to be removed from the post of Sonali Bank director. The process will start from Sunday.

Speaking regarding this to Prothom Alo, Policy Research Institute (PRI) executive director Ahsan H Mansur said, “It’s natural that Matiur Rahman is going to be removed from the post of Sonali Bank director. However, the question remains as two, who are appointing hundreds of people like Matiur to important posts? Why are they doing this? I believe Matiur is going to lose the eligibility to remain a member of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).”

*This report appeared on the online version of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu