Janata Bank has rejected the Beximco Community’s question for a Tk60 crore mortgage to pay workers’ salaries for October, per a letter despatched to the finance ministry by the bank.
The group applied for the mortgage to the bank on 4 November as its workers staged protests demanding unpaid salaries.
Earlier, the bank accredited a Tk55 crore mortgage for the group, owned by Salman F Rahman, to pay workers’ salaries for August. The mortgage was granted following the knowing expressed by Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur and was issued without a letter of credit score.
Salman F Rahman, who was non-public sector adviser to used high minister Sheikh Hasina, is for the time being in detention heart going via trial on a model of costs, collectively with involvement in killings right via the July Uprising.
The Janata Bank’s letter, issued on 14 November, mentioned that the bank is owed Tk23,407 crore by 28 firms of the Beximco Community, a huge part of which is classed as non-performing, with the the rest being leisurely.
The letter acknowledged that per the Bank Company Act, the bank is no longer allowed to present loans to defaulting customers.
When contacted by TBS, Janata Bank’s chairman declined to observation on the impart.
Dr Zahid Hussain, member of the project pressure on banking sector reforms, told TBS that Janata Bank’s decision to pause further loans to Beximco Community is logical.
Janata Bank had previously violated rules by providing funds to the defaulting Beximco Community, he acknowledged.
He added that the agencies are utilizing workers’ protests in query of salaries to blackmail banks.
“It is no longer doubtless for banks to continue paying salaries in this form every month. Therefore, if a company fails to pay workers, it can probably maybe well be better for the government to attach a package deal to lay off the staff. In this case, the corporate’s future must make certain,” Zahid Hussain acknowledged.
Dr Fahmida Khatun, govt director of the Centre for Protection Dialogue (CPD), told TBS that the Beximco Community wants spherical Tk82 crore to pay salaries to its workers every month.
“Such a huge amount is no longer doubtless for banks to present every month. In this case, Beximco’s firms would possibly well well also be equipped off, with workers step by step phased out.”
She mentioned that once the Hallmark Community’s firms were auctioned, no investors showed hobby. She expressed her doubts as to whether or no longer there would possibly well well be any investors for Beximco’s firms. “As a result, there isn’t any longer any straight forward answer to the crisis that has emerged,” she acknowledged.
Per Janata Bank, as of 31 October, the Beximco Community has spherical Tk1,287 crore in unrepatriated export proceeds, owing to which packing credit score and support-to-support LC liabilities live unpaid.
Additionally, even when Janata Bank’s nostro fable has been settled, the Beximco Community has no longer paid spherical Tk564 crore below the Export Style Fund felony responsibility.
As of 12 November, the Beximco Community has repatriated Tk90.65 crore of its export proceeds, in opposition to which the group received Tk81.58 crore in attain below packing credit score and support-to-support LC. The closing amount will doubtless be adjusted in opposition to provider prices as moreover the Beximco Community’s totally different eminent liabilities with Janata Bank.
