AnonTex seeks fresh loans from Janata

AnonTex Group, which was given Tk 5,500 crore in loans by Janata Bank violating rules, is now crying for fresh loans in the name of working capital to run its business activities.

The owners of the group made the appeal at a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his secretariat office yesterday. Senior officials of Janata Bank were also present.

“AnonTex Group is a big client of Janata Bank and there is some misunderstanding…that's all,” Muhith told reporters after the meeting.

When asked about the purpose of the meeting, the finance minister said AnonTex Group claimed that all of its business units are up and running. Still, they are denied working capital. As a result, the borrower could not meet its liabilities.

Janata Bank says the group has many units and they are in operation. However, they are defaulters as per the documents of the bank, according to Muhith. 

Muhith said the business units borrowed Tk 5,500 crore but the actual defaulted amount is much smaller.

“I did not give any solution. They have to discuss,” he said.

Muhith said Janata Bank has asked the group a number of questions, which were also raised by the Bangladesh Bank. AnonTex Group has not replied to the questions yet.

“I asked the group to give answers to Janata Bank first and then a tri-partite meeting will be held between the lender and the borrower in presence of Bangladesh Bank, if necessary,” he said.

The minister praised AnonTex Group, saying, “I visited the group and it is a first-class unit. The units are there.”

“It is not that they took the money and got away. It [the group] exports products to many European countries, including Germany.”

The group could not run some of its units because of the dearth of financing. They have never got working capital from the bank as per their requirement, said Muhith. 

The problem persists with all banks, not only with Janata Bank. Banks give loans but do not provide the working capital, he said.

“We came to inform the minister about our business plan as we have a large contribution in the garment industry,” Md Younus (Badal), chairman and managing director of AnonTex Group.

Luna Shamsuddoha, chairman of Janata Bank, declined to make any comment.

Loans given to 22 business firms of AnonTex Group totalled Tk 5,500 crore as of December last year.

But the loans were made violating the single borrower exposure limit set in the memorandum of understanding the state-run bank signed with the central bank.

In 2015, AnonTex restructured loans of Tk 1,094 crore with Janata Bank under the large loan restructuring package offered by the BB.

The client failed to make payments regularly and requested the bank to further reschedule the loans several months ago.

The bank sent the rescheduling proposal to the BB but did not get any nod.

Md Abdus Salam Azad, managing director of Janata Bank, was also present at the meeting.