Govt to pay dues of Beximco workers
The government will pay the dues of workers and employees of Beximco's laid-off companies, not through selling shares or assets, or by taking loans from banks.
Instead, the payment will be made through interest-free loans from the finance ministry and the labour and employment's central fund.
The dues will be paid before the start of the month of Ramadan. Sources at the finance ministry, the financial institutions division, and the labour and employment ministry confirmed this.
Last Wednesday, after the seventh meeting of the “Advisory Council on the Review of Labour and Business Situations in Beximco Industrial Park,” labour and employment adviser Brigadier General (Retd.) M Sakhawat Hossain told reporters that the dues of workers from Beximco’s laid-off companies would be settled in February.
The financial arrangements are in place, and a final decision will be made at a meeting scheduled for 18 February.
Sources indicate that due to inadequate preparation, the advisory council meeting will not take place on Tuesday. It may be rescheduled for 25 or 26 February.
However, a decision was made last week. An advisory council meeting, consisting of senior officials from Bangladesh Bank, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, lending banks, and financial institutions, was held last Wednesday. The meeting assigned three secretaries to resolve the issue.
The next day, Thursday, the three secretaries—finance secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mojumdar, labour secretary AHM Safiquzzaman, and Financial Institutions Division secretary Nazma Mubarak held a meeting and made a policy decision to settle the dues through interest-free loans. Economic adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has reportedly supported this decision.L
abour secretary AHM Safiquzzaman told Prothom Alo on Sunday that a solution has been found, although it is not yet possible to provide details. However, he mentioned that since September, a total of Beximco workers’ dues amounting to Tk 2.23 billion have been paid through interest-free loans. An additional Tk 5.5 to Tk 6 billion will be needed, and it is being considered to disburse this amount in the same manner.
Sources said that the government has taken this step to avoid unrest. However, they will try to prevent this payment method from being used as a precedent by others.
Salman F Rahman, one of the leaders of the Beximco Group and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s private sector investment and industrial adviser, has been in jail since 13 August. On 29 August, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) froze the bank accounts of Salman F Rahman, his son Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman, and his daughter-in-law Shazreh Rahman. On 18 September, police’s Criminal Investigation Department filed 17 cases against Salman F Rahman and 28 others from Beximco for allegedly laundering nearly Tk 10 billion abroad under the guise of export trade.
Two months later, on 24 November, an advisory council committee was formed with the labour adviser as the convener to address the issue.
The committee has held seven meetings until 12 February to discuss the settlement of workers' dues at Beximco’s laid-off companies. At the sixth meeting, it was decided that shares and assets of two operating Beximco companies, Beximco Pharma and Shinepukur Ceramics, which are mortgaged with banks, would be sold to settle the dues of workers from other laid-off companies.
However, at the seventh meeting, the committee revised this decision. Sources say it was decided that the banks which provided loans will settle the dues instead. After consulting with everyone, the three secretaries concluded that this option was also not feasible.
The Beximco Group owes significant amounts to various banks: Janata Bank Tk 23.28 billion, Sonali Bank Tk 1.42 billion, Agrani Bank Tk 420 million, Rupali Bank Tk 987 million, National Bank Tk 315 million, UCB Tk 333 million, AB Bank Tk 938 million, EXIM Bank Tk 497 million, Global Islamic Bank Tk 61 million, Dutch-Bangla Bank Tk 94 million, IFIC Bank Tk 78 million, and BIFFL Tk 87 million.
Among the 31 companies in the Beximco Industrial Park, Beximco Limited, Beximco PPE, and RR Washing are still operational. Twelve companies are temporarily closed, and sixteen are fully shut down. These companies have a combined bank loan debt of Tk 28.6 billion. Due to the lack of export orders and the inability to open letters of credit for raw material imports, Beximco declared a layoff of these factories. In exchange for these loans, assets such as land, buildings, machinery, shares, and permanent deposits with banks are mortgaged, totaling Tk 4.93 billion.
Ahsanul Karim, a Supreme Court lawyer specialising in corporate law, expressed his views on the government’s initiative. He told Prothom Alo that more consideration should have been given to the appropriateness of the decisions being made to settle Beximco workers' dues. He believes the judicial process will continue against Salman F Rahman. However, he emphasised the need to keep the factories operational, a path the government is not pursuing.