Staff Correspondent:

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has revealed that several bank audit reports contain fictional data.

“One bank claimed its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio was 4%, but upon auditing, we found it was actually 96%,” he said while speaking at the “Audit and Accounting Summit” held at the Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka on Wednesday (July 9).

Bangladesh Bank will work jointly to ensure this standard, said the governor.

He emphasised the need for accurate and transparent audit reports to gain trust from both domestic and foreign investors.

During the event, Abdul Momen, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), warned that if current audit reports were used to make judgments, it would be difficult to find any truly honest auditors. He cited major scandals at IFIC Bank, where with the help of auditors, inflated financials were used to secure funds for a paper company allegedly linked to Salman F Rahman.

“There have been repeated financial irregularities in the banking sector during the previous administration,” he said, adding that Bangladesh Bank had identified several top audit firms involved in covering up such corruption. While this identification is commendable, he lamented that no visible punitive action has been taken against them yet.