Janata Bank loan scam: 54,000 crore taka in the hands of 9 groups

Janata Bank, one of the country's state-owned commercial banks, is now in a terrible financial crisis. According to analysts, this is the biggest loan scam in the history of Bangladesh's banking. The bank has a defaulted loan of about 67,000 crore taka. Of this, about 54,000 crore taka is stuck with just 9 influential groups, which threatens the very existence of the bank.

The company that borrowed the most is Beximco Group, in whose hands Janata Bank has more than 25,000 crore taka stuck. The head of this group, Salman F. Rahman, is currently serving as the private sector advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Although there is no provision under the Bank Companies Act to give such a large loan to any one group, the power of Janata Bank's Dilkusha branch was increased and this loan was given to Beximco. Most of the loans were suspended in the name of rescheduling, but they were not collected. In addition, this group is accused of laundering about 455 crore taka under the guise of exports.

The scandal began with the Bismillah Group. They embezzled about Tk 600 crore from three branches of Janata Bank. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case and filed a charge sheet, but the money was not returned. Including interest, this liability has now increased to Tk 1,100 crore. The main accused, Khwaja Soleiman Chowdhury, is absconding abroad with his family.

The list of defaulters also includes –

S Alam Group (Tk 10,000+ crore), Anon Tex Group, Crescent Group, Ratanpur Group, Ranaka Group, Globe Janakantha, Sikder Group

These groups have a total debt of Tk 53,790 crore, a large part of which has been identified as defaulters.

The particularly discussed S Alam Group is currently one of the largest borrowers of Janata Bank. Their total debt is about Tk 10,000 crore, of which Tk 1,200 crore is already defaulted. In addition, Janata Bank included NASA Group's defaulted loan of Tk 120 crore in its books, and later increased its liability to more than Tk 1,500 crore by giving more loans.

Despite such massive corruption, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has not been able to take any effective action in the last 15 years. In the current situation, a special investigation team has been formed under the leadership of ACC Deputy Director Md. Al-Amin, who is verifying all loan-related documents of Janata Bank.

However, according to analysts, such irregularities and fraud are actually an 'institutional bank robbery', behind which there is a political umbrella and administrative weakness.

A senior ACC official said, "Despite repeated complaints, investigations and charge sheets, the criminals have remained out of reach. This time the situation has changed. We hope that the new investigation team will be able to work independently and bring the criminals under the law."

These incidents are a big warning for the banking sector of Bangladesh. If strict measures are not taken in a timely manner, state-owned banks will face complete collapse and this looting of the people's hard-earned money by the influential will continue.