Govt to help PLFS depositors: Kamal

The aggrieved depositors of the recently liquidated People’s Leasing and Financial Services will get support from the government in some form, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday.

“The government will extend support to them. But I do not know whether it will be full support,” he told reporters after a meeting with the affected depositors of the liquidated non-bank financial institution on the planning ministry’s premise.

The central bank has handed over the responsibility to an audit firm to assess both assets and liabilities of the NBFI. The government will take the required measures after getting the audit firm’s assessment report.

“There is a legal framework on how to provide the depositors’ fund of a liquidated NBFI. But we may deviate from the framework in order to provide the fund to the depositors. And we will have to take a decision to this end from the prime minister,” Kamal said.  There has been a regulatory failure in monitoring of the NBFI, he said. “I wonder how such a weak organisation had gone on for this long.”

The aggrieved depositors, led by Md Atikur Rahman Atik, also submitted a memorandum to the finance minister, requesting him to take prompt measures to get back their stuck fund.

On June 27, the finance ministry instructed the central bank to liquidate PLFS due to deterioration of its financial health in the last several years. The ministry arrived at the decision after going through a detailed central bank report on the NBFI.

The NBFI has failed to repay the depositors’ money despite maturity of the funds, found the Bangladesh Bank report.

Default loans and net losses have recently escalated as well, which forced the central bank to liquidate the NBFI.

The High Court gave the go-ahead to the central bank to appoint a liquidator for PLFS on July 14. Md Asaduzzaman Khan, deputy general manager of the BB’s financial institutions department, has been appointed as the liquidator.