Sheikh Abdul Hye flees to Canada after ‘plundering’ BASIC Bank

“I am the scapegoat”—that was how former BASIC Bank chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye, also known as Bacchu, described himself.

Although he claims to be innocent, Abdul Hye has been accused of turning one of the best state-owned banks into one of the worst. He has also been accused of embezzling huge sums of money.

Abdul Hye has been in hiding over these allegations. He had been out of sight for several years. Eventually, I managed to obtain his mobile phone number. I spoke to him several times in July, August and September. His voice was familiar, and I had no difficulty recognising him.

Abdul Hye responded to the allegations against him and tried to deny them. However, several investigations by Bangladesh Bank have substantiated the allegations, leaving little room for him to evade responsibility.

At one point, he said he was not the only one who had approved irregular loans at BASIC Bank; leaders of the then Awami League government were also responsible. He added, “Don’t make me the fall guy.”

Before hearing the full story from Abdul Hye, we need to turn back the pages of history by three decades. Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce Bank PLC, commonly known as BASIC Bank, was established in 1989.

The bank was once a trusted institution for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. By convention, the secretary of the Ministry of Industries served as its chairman. From its establishment until Abdul Hye took over as chairman, the bank’s default loan ratio had never exceeded 3–4 per cent. Until 2008, it was recognised as one of the country’s best banks.

The Awami League came to power after winning the parliamentary election held in December 2008 under the military-backed caretaker government. It took office in January 2009. On 10 September that year, Sheikh Abdul Hye was appointed chairman of the BASIC Bank board.

Abdul Hye remained chairman for two consecutive terms, until July 2014. During those nearly five years, loan irregularities and corruption involving Tk 45 billion took place at the bank. The government later injected Tk 35 billion from the state exchequer to bail it out. That money came from taxpayers. Yet the bank collapsed and never managed to recover.

There is a complex, multifaceted story behind how one of the biggest scandals in the country’s banking sector unfolded. Statements from several former BASIC Bank directors and other relevant people indicate that then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appointed and protected Abdul Hye. At the same time, officials of the then Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) exerted pressure to prevent media reports about his corruption.

Prothom Alo, however, continued publishing reports on the scandal. Abdul Hye is now accused in at least 66 cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). But where is he now?

The ACC says he is still in Bangladesh. Our investigation, however, has found that he is in Canada with his family. The Awami League government fell on 5 August 2024 following the July mass uprising. Abdul Hye had left the country a year earlier, in 2023. He did not say which month he left.

How he became BASIC Bank chairman

In several rounds of phone conversations lasting hours, conducted across the Atlantic Ocean, Abdul Hye recounted in his own way how he became chairman of BASIC Bank.

He was a Jatiya Party leader. He was elected a member of parliament from Bagerhat-1 in the 1986 election and later served as chairman of the district council. After the fall of the Ershad government in 1990, he became inactive in national politics.

As BASIC Bank was state-owned, the secretary of the Ministry of Industries would generally serve as its chairman. The Awami League government broke with this established practice by appointing Abdul Hye to the post.

Abdul Hye told Prothom Alo that during the military-backed caretaker government in 2007–08, he lived in a flat in Dhaka’s Banani area. The then army chief, Moeen U Ahmed, was president of the flat owners’ association by virtue of his position. Abdul Hye was its joint general secretary.

He said, “At that time, I was in regular contact with the army chief. We communicated about various matters. I used that connection to my advantage at the time. I don’t want to say what I used it for.”

Former army chief Moeen U Ahmed has been living abroad for many years. Prothom Alo contacted him by phone and sent him questions seeking his response to Abdul Hye’s claims, but received no reply.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hye said, “I had no connection with the Awami League, and I still don’t. Sheikh Hasina could not stand me because I was from the Jatiya Party.”

When Abdul Hye was appointed chairman of BASIC Bank, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith (now deceased) was finance minister.

Muhith had expressed his frustration with Abdul Hye on several occasions, but he was powerless. He once described Abdul Hye’s activities at BASIC Bank as “almost like robbery”. In parliament, he even said that members of his own party were obstructing efforts to catch the fraudsters (30 June 2016).

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith died on 30 April 2022. Former army chief Moeen U Ahmed is abroad. As a result, it has not been possible to establish clearly why the Awami League appointed Abdul Hye as BASIC Bank chairman. What is clear, however, is that Abdul Hye had influence over the Awami League government. It was that government that enabled him to cross the Atlantic instead of going to prison.

A former BASIC Bank director, speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, said, “At one point, then Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith called me to find out what was happening at BASIC Bank. After hearing everything, he told me that Abdul Hye Bacchu needed to be removed. But in the end, even he could not do it.”

Alongside appointing Abdul Hye, the Awami League government reconstituted the boards of four state-owned banks—Sonali, Janata, Agrani and BASIC—in September 2010. Appointments were made on political considerations. A Prothom Alo report published on its front page on 11 September 2010 carried the headline: “Boards of four banks reconstituted by rewarding party leaders and supporters.”

‘Corruption began’ with the purchase of a building

Three months after Abdul Hye became chairman, a meeting of the BASIC Bank board was held on 13 December 2009. According to bank documents, Abdul Hye proposed at the meeting that BASIC Bank build its own headquarters. Four months later, on 1 April 2010, the bank signed an agreement worth Tk 810 million to purchase a building under construction in Motijheel.

But the agreement was unregistered. Such agreements are not admissible in court. It stated that the building would be named “Zaman-BASIC Bank Tower”. The land was owned by Sinku Akramuzzaman. A construction company owned by him was named Business Resources Limited. Under the agreement, Business Resources was to construct the building. In other words, both the sale of the land and the construction of the building were controlled by the same person.

A Bangladesh Bank investigation in 2012 found that Tk 400 million had been released from the bank on the very day the agreement was signed. Before construction had even begun, arrangements were hurriedly made to pay the amount through Niranjan Debnath, then deputy general manager of BASIC Bank and now managing director of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB). He was promoted to general manager shortly afterwards.

Niranjan Debnath told Prothom Alo last Saturday that a subcommittee had been formed to implement the board’s decision on the building. The committee recommended that Tk 400 million be paid urgently. He said the situation had become so bad that no one, including the managing director, could speak up because the chairman had everyone at gunpoint.

Another Tk 360 million was paid in several instalments over the following two years as the price of the building, bringing the total payment to Tk 760 million.

But ownership of the land remained disputed. It was listed as abandoned property, and a legal case was pending. The bank has still not gained full possession of the building.

Asked why he had signed an unregistered agreement, Abdul Hye told Prothom Alo, “The lawyer at the time would be in a better position to explain that. I don’t remember the details.”

The bank’s current management, however, says that a review of the documents shows Abdul Hye played the leading role in the decision to proceed despite the disputed land ownership, the unregistered agreement and the large payments. It also alleges that he personally benefited from the deal, while the bank suffered losses.

BASIC Bank’s current chairman, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, told Prothom Alo, “We are waiting to move into the building. It will save us the cost of rent.”

Loans disbursed at will

During Abdul Hye’s tenure as BASIC Bank chairman, the bank’s lending increased at an extraordinary rate. According to Bangladesh Bank data, the bank’s loans stood at around Tk 46.34 billion in 2010. By 2012, the amount had nearly doubled, but profits had declined.

BASIC Bank’s profits in 2010 and 2011 were around Tk 660 million and Tk 970 million, respectively. In 2012, profits fell to around Tk 30 million.

The bank made a loss in 2013 and never returned to profitability. In an interview with Prothom Alo on 12 January 2020, the late Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said, “A man like Abdul Hye Bacchu single-handedly destroyed BASIC Bank.”

When Abdul Hye Bacchu was appointed chairman, A K M Sajedur Rahman was BASIC Bank’s managing director. He served at the bank from 23 July 2008 to 27 December 2010.

On 27 October, Sajedur Rahman spoke to Prothom Alo for about an hour at the office of an organisation in Dhaka, recalling the events of that period. He said, “Within a few months of Sheikh Abdul Hye joining the bank, I realised what kind of person he was. He did not follow the bank’s rules and regulations. Even when I saw all this, I had no way of leaving the bank because he constantly threatened me, saying I could not leave.”

Sajedur Rahman said, “One day, I secretly sought the help of the then governor, Atiur Rahman. I told him everything and said that no banking was taking place there; rather, there was an attempt to stripping depositors’ money.”

He said, “Even after hearing everything, Atiur Rahman gave me no assurance of support. He told me about his own helplessness. When I returned, Sheikh Abdul Hye asked me with a faint smile, ‘Did you go to see the governor?’ I thought someone at Bangladesh Bank must have informed Bacchu that I had met the governor. I did not deny it either.”

Sajedur Rahman went to Australia for medical treatment towards the end of 2010. His leave began on 2 November that year, and he returned on 25 December. He said that after returning, he was asked to rejoin the bank, but he did not. On 27 December, he submitted his resignation through an intermediary.

To illustrate the nature of Abdul Hye’s relationship with then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sajedur Rahman recalled an incident. He said that after the fire at Nimtali in Old Dhaka on 3 June 2010, the bank’s board decided to donate Tk 5 million to the then prime minister’s relief fund.

“The bank chairman took me with him to Ganabhaban to hand over the donation cheque to Sheikh Hasina. As soon as she saw him from a distance, she said, ‘What is it, Bacchu? Why are you here?’ Abdul Hye Bacchu replied, ‘Apa, I have come to make a donation following the Nimtali fire.’ Sheikh Hasina said, ‘That’s good, very good.’”

Sajedur Rahman said Abdul Hye’s relationship with Sheikh Hasina was so close that she addressed him informally as “tui”.

After Sajedur Rahman resigned, Kazi Fakhrul Islam became BASIC Bank’s managing director. An ACC source said he fled to Malaysia after being removed from his post on 26 May 2014.

One irregularity after another

A review of Prothom Alo’s archive shows that, following allegations of irregularities, Bangladesh Bank began special inspections at various BASIC Bank branches towards the end of 2012. Irregularities were found at several branches, including Gulshan, Dilkusha and Shantinagar.

The findings revealed that around Tk 45 billion had been siphoned off from the bank in the name of loans between 2009 and 2013. Most of the loans had been disbursed without proper scrutiny.

In September 2012, then Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman warned BASIC Bank’s managing director Kazi Fakhrul Islam and other senior officials. The central bank sent a letter to the Financial Institutions Division. Later, on 17 July 2013, Bangladesh Bank and BASIC Bank signed a memorandum of understanding. But the loan irregularities continued.

On 18 August 2013, then Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith held a meeting with the chairmen and managing directors of state-owned banks. Abdul Hye was asked to attend but did not show up.

Bangladesh Bank subsequently sent a more strongly worded letter to the Financial Institutions Division, saying that lending discipline at the bank had collapsed.

In May 2014, Bangladesh Bank recommended that the government dissolve BASIC Bank’s board and removed managing director Kazi Fakhrul Islam that same month. Two months later, in July 2014, Sheikh Abdul Hye stepped down as chairman. On 4 July, he went to the residence of then Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith and submitted his resignation. The following day, 5 July, was the scheduled end of his term.

Speaking from Canada about the bank’s irregularities, Abdul Hye said, “Was I the only one who approved every proposal? The entire process of implementing the decisions involved other board members and officials. The fact that the chairman’s signature is on a document does not mean he can be made solely responsible for the entire process.”

Abdul Hye also alleged that Sheikh Helal Uddin, a cousin of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had unlawfully interfered in the bank’s affairs. He claimed that Nilufar Ahmed, then director general at the Prime Minister’s Office and a close associate of Sheikh Hasina, wielded enormous influence over the bank. Anwarul Islam, then presidium member of the Jubo League, and the bank’s then managing director Kazi Fakhrul Islam were also influential, he said.

It has not been possible to establish where Nilufar Ahmed and Anwarul Islam are now.

Speaking from Canada, Abdul Hye said he was being made a “scapegoat” because he was being blamed as chairman without investigating the entire loan process and identifying all those responsible.

However, letters written by two directors at the time point to Abdul Hye’s responsibility. On 11 July 2013, A K M Rezaur Rahman, a board member and former additional secretary, wrote to M Aslam Alam, then secretary of the Financial Institutions Division. A few days earlier, he had also met the secretary with another director, accountant A K M Kamrul Islam.

The letter referred to a board meeting held on 30 April 2013. Rezaur Rahman wrote that when Bangladesh Bank’s questions about 13 irregular loans came up, Abdul Hye had said, “There is no need to discuss this.” When the chairman tried to move on to the next agenda item, Rezaur Rahman objected. He wrote that he had said the board could not proceed without discussing such a letter from Bangladesh Bank.

Rezaur Rahman also wrote that, often, documents relating to loans and investments worth hundreds of crores of taka were distributed on the night before board meetings, leaving directors no time to read them. Photographs of the chairman with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were displayed at the bank’s head office and lobby. The chairman would often tell the board, “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is my elder sister. I don’t care about anyone except her.”

In his letter, Rezaur Rahman said that reports on BASIC Bank’s irregularities were being published in newspapers one after another, and the issue had also been discussed in parliament. Given the situation, he said, he felt like stepping down from the board, but his conscience told him that he should at least continue to act as a watchdog in the bank’s interest.

The two dissenting directors, Rezaur Rahman and Kamrul Islam, were later unable to remain on BASIC Bank’s board. The government subsequently appointed the former to Sonali Bank and the latter to Janata Bank as directors.

A Bangladesh Bank official involved in supervising BASIC Bank told Prothom Alo that armed personnel from government agencies would also attend board meetings. As a result, whatever the chairman said would be approved. In such circumstances, no one had any opportunity to do anything.

Dissenting director Rezaur Rahman died several years ago at a hospital in Thailand. When contacted, Kamrul Islam asked me to visit his chartered accountancy firm in Mirpur, Dhaka. I went there on 5 July and spoke with him at length.

Recalling the events during his time as a BASIC Bank director, Kamrul Islam sighed. He said, “The letter gives a full account of how the bank was ruined under Abdul Hye’s leadership. I think it is rare anywhere in the world for a good bank to be brought to the brink of destruction over such a long period, despite the existence of a government and so many state agencies.”

Officials serving in several important government institutions were on BASIC Bank’s board. Directors received an allowance of Tk 8,000 for each board meeting. Yet, while the bank was sinking, the careers of several board members advanced rapidly.

Alongside Abdul Hye, two then directors general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Shubh Asish Basu and Nilufar Ahmed, were appointed to BASIC Bank’s board. Shubh Asish Basu later became commerce secretary. On 28 January 2024, Nilufar Ahmed was appointed special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the rank of secretary. Both are now accused in cases.

Another person appointed as a BASIC Bank director alongside Abdul Hye was Bijoy Bhattacharya, then joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance. He later became vice-chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Kamrunnahar Ahmed served as a BASIC Bank director throughout the scandal. She later became additional secretary of the Financial Institutions Division. Bijoy Bhattacharya and Kamrunnahar Ahmed are now retired. They, too, are accused.

Other members of the board alongside Abdul Hye included former chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (now abolished) Fakhrul Islam and former secretary of the Information and Communication Technology Division Shyam Sundar Sikder.

After retirement, Shyam Sundar Sikder was also appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). Both are now accused.

Among the directors from the private sector were Jahangir Akhand Salim, then president of the Chandpur Chamber of Commerce; former customs commissioner Shakhawat Hossain; Kazi Akhtar Hossain, then chairman of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at Islamic University, Kushtia; and Anwarul Islam, managing director of a company named ARS Louvre Bangladesh.

Kazi Akhtar Hossain told Prothom Alo on 5 July that Sheikh Abdul Hye wielded such power that no director, including himself, could play a proper role on the board. Asked why he had not resigned, he replied, “That could have been done.”

Abdul Hye’s Sudden Wealth

In 2013, Bangladesh Bank investigated the link between the BASIC Bank scandal and the increase in Abdul Hye’s personal wealth. His assets included 30 kathas of land in the cantonment area, an apartment, 138 kathas of land in Bashundhara, and eight deep-sea fishing trawlers purchased for hundreds of crores of taka.

The assets were held in the names of Abdul Hye, his wife Sheikh Shirin Akhtar, son Sheikh Sabid Hye Anik, daughter Sheikh Rafa Hye, and brother Sheikh Shahriar, also known as Panna.

The trawlers were purchased within a year of his appointment as chairman. Six were registered in the name of Eden Fisheries and two in the name of Crown Fisheries. Their market value was around Tk 1 billion. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) investigated the matter in 2014 and sent a report to the ACC.

The investigation found that nearly Tk 200 million had been transferred to two bank accounts belonging to Sheikh Shahriar from several companies that had received loans from BASIC Bank.

The trawlers were purchased from former Jatiya Party lawmaker Mahjabin Morshed and her husband, Morshed Murad Ibrahim, former president of the Chattogram Chamber of Commerce. At the time, they had loans worth Tk 450 crore from BASIC Bank.

Meanwhile, more than 30 kathas of land were purchased inside the cantonment area. In August 2012, Sheikh Abdul Hye signed an agreement to purchase the land for Tk 1.1 billion with Amin Ahmed, chairman of Best Holdings Group.

The land was purchased in the names of five people, including Abdul Hye, his wife, son, daughter and brother. The total deed value of the property was shown as Tk 152.5 million. Some of the pay orders used to pay for the land came from BASIC Bank customers.

One of the companies that issued the pay orders was Jamuna Agro Chemicals. Its co-owner and former Jatiya Party lawmaker Shawkat Chowdhury told Prothom Alo in 2020 that he had to bribe Abdul Hye because securing a loan was not easy.

In 2012, Sheikh Abdul Hye also purchased 138 kathas of land in Block I of Bashundhara Residential Area. At market prices, the land was worth nearly Tk 3 billion.

Speaking from Canada, Abdul Hye now says he paid for the cantonment land gradually and that all his assets were purchased with legitimate money. He said, “There is proof that I sold my house in Dhanmondi. I was not poor. I had a business in the real estate sector.”

However, officials at Bangladesh Bank and the ACC say both agencies have evidence that Sheikh Abdul Hye and his brother received commissions as bribes in exchange for loans.

66 Cases

Allegations of bribery, irregularities and corruption against the board led by Sheikh Abdul Hye had emerged while he was still chairman. After his term ended, the ACC filed 56 cases in September 2015, followed by three more. However, neither Abdul Hye nor any board member was named as an accused in any of those cases.

From 2011 to 2016, former President Mohammed Shahabuddin served as an ACC commissioner. There is speculation that Abdul Hye received protection from the ACC during that period. Later, following a court order, the ACC was compelled to summon Sheikh Abdul Hye and other board members. But they were not named as accused in the cases.

Iqbal Mahmood served as ACC chairman for five consecutive years, from 2016 to 2021. It was not possible to contact him. An explanation for his silence on Sheikh Abdul Hye, however, can be found in an earlier statement. In an interview with Prothom Alo on 12 April 2018, Iqbal Mahmood said, “There is no scope to accuse someone based on emotion or assumptions. I will not be able to prove in court that he took bribes.”

Finally, amid criticism, the ACC completed the charge sheets in 59 cases related to the embezzlement of BASIC Bank funds on 12 June 2023. Abdul Hye was named as an accused in 58 of them.

At the time, Moinuddin Abdullah was ACC chairman. After his name appeared in the charge sheets, an arrest warrant was issued against Abdul Hye. But he was never arrested and did not surrender to the court. He had left the country before his name appeared in the charge sheets.

On 9 February 2025, during the interim government’s tenure, the ACC filed three cases simultaneously against Abdul Hye and his family. The first was against Abdul Hye. The allegation is that, through forgery and fraud, he embezzled loan funds and accumulated assets worth Tk 1.25 billion beyond his known sources of income. Of this amount, he allegedly laundered nearly Tk 560 million to Canada.

The second case was filed against his wife, Sheikh Shirin Akhtar. She is accused of owning assets worth Tk 370 million beyond her known sources of income. Sheikh Abdul Hye is also an accused in this case. The third case was filed against his son, Sheikh Sabid Hye Anik. The ACC alleges that he owns assets worth Tk 450 million beyond his known sources of income. Sheikh Abdul Hye is a co-accused in this case as well.

In March 2025, three more cases were filed against Abdul Hye and his family members. Another case was filed later. The ACC says the total number of cases now stands at 66.

On the allegations of money laundering, Sheikh Abdul Hye says the evidence should be made public. He argues that it is wrong to hold him responsible without proof. According to him, various steps were taken against him in 2023 to gain political advantage in the 2024 election.

But it is evident that the Awami League government allowed Abdul Hye to leave the country without obstruction. Three weeks after the BNP government came to power, on 9 March, a court imposed a travel ban on Abdul Hye and 15 others, including board members, managing directors and deputy managing directors who served during his tenure.

ACC Commissioner (Investigation) Md Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan told Prothom Alo last Saturday that charge sheets had been submitted in 60 of the 66 cases related to the BASIC Bank scandal. However, the court returned all the charge sheets with certain observations. The charge sheets in the remaining six cases are also being prepared. He said, “We will make the necessary corrections and submit all the charge sheets to the court very soon.”

Asked why the court had returned the charge sheets, Sazzad Hossain Bhuiyan said, “The accused were selected arbitrarily in these cases. Among those who served on the bank’s board at the same time, some were named as accused while others were left out. It was a pick-and-choose approach.”

Others Who Also Failed

There are many examples of irregularities at BASIC Bank. For instance, during Abdul Hye’s tenure as chairman, the bank’s Gulshan branch lent Tk 790 million to Asian Food Trading. As soon as it received the loan, the company deposited part of the money into Abdul Hye’s bank account and another portion into the account of his brother, Sheikh Shahriar. Bangladesh Bank later found that the two brothers had received Tk 300 million in this way from a single customer.

Irregularities were not limited to lending; recruitment was also manipulated. Between 2012 and 2014, BASIC Bank recruited 1,173 people without following any of the rules regarding educational qualifications, age limits, written and oral examinations or recruitment procedures. A 2014 report by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) described the recruitment as “unprecedented”.

A Bangladesh Bank investigation found that the bank’s IT department opened the door to loans without written approval from the head office, while branch offices created loans at will. The treasury department continuously supplied funds to the branches. Yet no one from these departments faced punishment.

The bank’s human resources department was controlled by then managing director Kazi Fakhrul Islam and two deputy managing directors, A Monayem Khan and Ruhul Alam. The other two deputy managing directors, Fazlus Sobahan and Anup Kumar Purokayastha, controlled all the branches in Chattogram.

According to BASIC Bank sources, Ruhul Alam was a retired army officer. Despite having no banking experience, Abdul Hye directly appointed him as deputy general manager (DGM) in April 2012. Seven months later, before his employment had even been made permanent, he was promoted to general manager (GM). Within a year, he was made a deputy managing director (DMD).

The board documents cited “exceptionally excellent performance” as the reason for his promotion. Yet the rules required at least three years of experience as a DGM and at least 18 years of banking experience to be promoted to GM.

After the end of Sheikh Abdul Hye’s tenure, the bank’s former managing director Alauddin A Majid became chairman. Loans disbursed during his tenure have also since become classified as defaulted. Asked about this, Alauddin A Majid told Prothom Alo, “We tried to improve the bank. It had fallen so deep into trouble that we could not fully turn it around.”

Taxpayers’ Money to Keep the Bank Afloat

In April 2024, an attempt was made to merge the struggling BASIC Bank with City Bank, but the plan did not proceed. According to BASIC Bank data, as of the end of last September, the bank’s loans stood at Tk 107.6 billion, of which 60 per cent, or Tk 64.14 billion, was classified as defaulted. The bank has recently asked the government for Tk 50 billion.

The bank’s current chairman, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, told Prothom Alo, “Let the past be dealt with according to the law. We have asked the government for a Tk 50 billion deposit at a low interest rate to improve the bank. If we receive it, the bank will be able to recover. Deposits have increased over the past year, and defaulted loans have declined.”

The BNP government now has to inject taxpayers’ money to keep afloat banks that were looted during the Awami League’s tenure. At an event on 11 October, Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman said that, to overcome the damage inflicted on the banking sector by looting during the Awami League era, Tk 600 billion would be needed annually from the national budget over the next five to eight years. Bangladesh Bank has submitted a draft proposal on the matter to the government.

Mostaqur Rahman said, “The money that was embezzled belonged to the people. Now those same people will have to pay it back.”

Whatever Abdul Hye may say, he must take responsibility for the BASIC Bank scandal, said Muinul Islam, a retired professor of economics at the University of Chittagong. He told Prothom Alo that unless those responsible for bringing the bank to this state are given exemplary punishment, it will send the wrong message to the banking sector.