Auction of Salman’s Dhanmondi house halted

The High Court on Tuesday halted the auction for the Dhanmondi residence of Beximco Group chairman Sohail F Rahman and vice-chairman Salman F Rahman.
The state-run Sonali Bank was scheduled to hold an auction on Wednesday to recollect its funds by selling off the house as mortgaged property.

Sonali Bank called the auction for the one bigha property in Dhanmondi to recover Tk 228 crore it owed from the GMG Airlines.
Salman’s lawyer Shah Manjurul Haque told Prothom Alo that a joint bench of Justice Md Salim and Sheikh Hassan Arif issued the stay order.
Sonali Bank’s acting managing director Didar M Abdur Rab confirmed about receiving the stay order.

GMG Airlines was one of the most talked about companies before the 2010 share market crash. The airlines sold its placement shares in the market by cooking up its financial reports.
After the scam became public, the company, facing serious flak, was denied market listing.
The 2010 share market scam investigation also suggested being careful about Salman.

Salman was also named in 1996 share market scam. The Beximco group vice chairman is listed as one of the biggest loan defaulters in the country since the late 80s.
A number of GMG Airlines officials said the profit of the company soared after Beximco Group bought the majority of the airline shares in 2009.

Talking over the issue, former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled said Sonali Bank should appoint a good lawyer and try to withdraw the stay order on auction.
The former banker also asked Bangladesh Bank to investigate how Salman F Rahman can stay in the position of a chairman of IFIC Bank after his company GMG Airlines has been declared a loan defaulter.