Ex-chairman alone embezzled Tk517cr from BIFC: Report
Fact finding body’s report submitted to High Court casts doubt on payback to depositors as the finance company is weighed down by liabilities
Former chairman of Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company Limited (BIFC) Major (retd) Abdul Mannan alone embezzled more than Tk517 crore from the non-banking financial institution through lending anomalies, according to a fact-finding report.
As the current liabilities of the scam-hit BIFC outweigh the assets, it is uncertain whether depositors will be able to recoup their investments, noted the report by a high-level fact-finding committee of the Bangladesh Bank.
The report has been submitted to the High Court by Bangladesh Bank lawyer Barrister Khan Mohammad Shamim Aziz recently.
The report recommends that both the Bangladesh Bank and the Anti-Corruption Commission take strong and visible action to return the money to the depositors. It also suggests that the 30 separate cases against Major Mannan and others involved in the embezzlement should be swiftly resolved and that those found guilty should receive exemplary punishment.
The nearly 1,100-page report made a 9-point recommendation to stop anomalies and mismanagement in other financial institutions like BIFC and ensure transparency in the entire sector.
The BIFC was established in 1996 with an initial investment of Tk50 lakh. In 1998, it received a licence from the Bangladesh Bank and began operating as a non-bank financial institution. The BIFC was listed on the stock market in 2006.
As of now, the assets of the company total to Tk827.29 crore, while its total liabilities are Tk1,835 crore.
According to the report, Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan embezzled Tk517 crore from the company through taking loans against his 67 business entities between 2005 and 2014, and he admitted the responsibility to the fact-finding committee.
Bangladesh Bank lawyer Khan Mohammad Shamim Aziz told The Business Standard that the court has registered the report and will issue an order in this regard later.
In February 2021, the central bank formed the fact-finding committee consisting of five members led by Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan to look into the scams at NBFIs.
The committee was formed following the confessional statements given by at least two scamsters in court that two high officials of the central bank had assisted the swindlers in exchange for bribes.
During the investigations, the central bank withdrew its Executive Director Shah Alam in charge of monitoring NBFIs, whose name surfaced in the confessional statements.