TDS Desk:

The S Alam Group has taken more than half of the total loans disbursed by the Islami Bank, the bank’s newly-appointed Chairman Obayed Ullah Al Masud said Thursday (5 September).

Following a meeting between the bank’s chairman and governor of Bangladesh Bank, Masud said it would take another week to get the complete information on the amount of the loans.

At the end of June, the bank’s debt stood at more than Tk1.74 lakh crore.

Masud said S Alam had overvalued its assets and taken debts based on those.

“The assets are already being reassessed. Also, the collaterals against the loans will not be enough to cover those. Therefore, a letter has been written to the law ministry to find out the assets which are outside the collaterals,” he said.

He said there was a deficit of Tk2,300cr when the new board took charge, but this had been reduced to Tk2,000cr. He hoped that it would return to a positive trend at the end of the year.

He also said customers won’t face problems in withdrawing money after Thursday as the amount deposited in the last week was more than what was withdrawn, resulting in a net balance.

Asked what kind of action was being taken against various officials who have cooperated with S Alam, he said, “We do not want to move against the lower-tier officials now. Because if you hit the bottom now, everything will collapse. Some on the top rungs are already being removed and all will be dealt with gradually. Action will be taken according to the law.”

He said a roadmap has been drawn up to turn around the bank. The roadmap was done in three phases with 2025-26 considered the turning point.