BNP's top men among defaulters
Fifteen industries owned by some senior BNP leaders, including Tarique Rahman, owe Tk980.20 crore to different public and private banks as outstanding loans, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament yesterday.
A large part (Tk321 crore) of it has turned out as bad loan, she noted while responding to lawmakers' queries.
On March 31, the total amount of default loan stood at Tk 51,019 crore, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.
The prime minister also said some state-owned companies owe Tk15,113.61 crore to public banks (Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali) as outstanding loans.
Dandy Dyeing Ltd has had Tk40.14 crore as bad loans with the state-run Sonali Bank, she added.
Tarique and Arafat Rahman, both sons of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Giasuddin Al Mamun, a close associate of Tarique, and late Syed Iskander, brother of Khaleda, are among the directors of the company.
BNP chairperson's adviser Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has also had Tk35.46 crore as outstanding loan with several commercial banks.
BNP'S REACTION
BNP standing committee member Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah said banks sanction loans based on their relation with clients.
But if anybody does not repay the loan, there are laws to recover it, he told The Daily Star.
“I think the prime minister wanted to hide the misdeeds of some Awami League men involved in Hall-Mark, Destiny and other scams. They [AL men] looted huge amounts of money in the name of taking loans from banks,” pointed out the BNP leader.
LIST OF COMPANIES WITH OUTSTANDING OR BAD LOANS
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