Top 20 defaulters hold Tk 35,000cr

Staff Correspondent: The top 20 defaulting institutions owe about Tk 35,000 crore to various banks. In this list, there are names of various groups including Saad Musa Group, Anontex Group, Crescent Group, Maisha Group, Ratanpur Group discussed in the loan fraud of the bank sector. A significant portion of the top defaulters are public-owned banks and privately-owned national banks. The condition of the two banks has worsened.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali told in the Parliament that the work of preparing the list of the top defaulting individuals and institutions of the bank is underway. In January last year, the then Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal published the list of top 20 defaulters in the banking sector. Those whose names were on the list are said to still be among the top defaulters in most cases.
On January 24 last year, AHM Mustafa Kamal presented the list of top 20 defaulters in Parliament. Most of that list were customers of private sector National and state-owned Janata Bank. It has been found that those whose names appeared in the previous parliament are still in the list of top debtors in most cases. However, Janata Bank’s big customer Anontex was not in the list of top defaulters last year. In a report of the bank based on 2023, the default of Tk 7,709 crore of Annontex has been shown. Ratanpur Group’s loan of Tk 1,227 crore has been shown as defaulted in Janata Bank. This group was not named in the list of top defaulters last year.

Two companies of the Saad Musa Group, discussed for taking loans through various frauds, were shown as defaulters in last year’s list. Of this, Saad Musa Fabrics now owes National Bank Tk 1,177 crores. And the same bank owes Tk 754 crore to his benami company Radium Composite. According to a recent investigation of the time, the amount of defaulted loans of Mohammad Mohsin, the leader of Saad Musa Group, in 24 banks and financial institutions is Tk 5,668 crores.
Last year’s list of defaulters was CLC Power, the company of late Awami League member of Parliament Aslamul Haque’s Maisha Group of Mirpur, Dhaka. All his loans are to the private sector National Bank. As of last December, the amount of Maisha Group’s defaulted loans in the National Bank stood at Tk 2,755 crore. Although the loan was not paid long ago, these loans were regularly shown in various ways while Aslamul Haq was alive.
The bankers said that not only Aslamul Haq has remained free of default despite not repaying the loan due to influence. There are examples of many defaulting without paying the loan. Many people are showing regularity by consolidating previous loans with benami loan money. Again, the debt is rescheduled, restructured, renewed or regularly shown in the documents by approaching the court. However, no measures are taken from the central bank. That is why the real picture of top defaulters or defaulted loans of the banking sector does not come out. Because, with the various benefits of the regulatory agencies, the influential people regularly show loans in various ways. Again, the information that is published does not show the entire debt of the group, but the information is given separately for each institution. Due to which the actual debt owed by the bank to the top borrowers is not known.
Among the top defaulters is state-owned Janata Bank’s much-talked-about debtor Crescent Group. The group owes Tk 3,879 crore to the bank. Out of this Tk 2,090 crores of Crescent Leather, Tk 1,134 crores of Remax Footwear and Tk 655 crores of Lexco Limited. Western Marine Shipyard, which was listed last year, has debts of around Tk 2,000 crore with various banks. Of this, National Bank has Tk 975 crore. BR Spinning, which was named in last year’s list, has loans of around Tk 1,100 crore in four banks. Out of this, the company’s loan to Janata Bank alone is Tk 574 crore.
Company SA Oil and Samannaz Super Oil, owned by Sahabuddin Alam, leader of the Chittagong-based businessman SA Group, have defaulted loans of around two and a half thousand crore taka. Of this, National Bank has Tk 385 crore. Tk 647 crores owed by National Bank to Manha Precast Technology are all in default. Ehsan Steel Re-Rolling Mill has a loan of Tk 619 crore in National Bank.
Rising Steel, whose name appeared in the list published last year in the Jatiya Sangsad, was in default of Tk 990 crore out of the Tk 1,143 crore loan. The default of Mohammad Elias Brothers Limited of Chittagong was Tk 966 crore. Otobi, a well-known furniture manufacturer in the country, defaulted on its Tk 811 crore loan of Quantum Power Systems. Asian Education Limited had Tk 636 crore of Tk 653 crore debt, SM Steel Re-Rolling Mill had Tk 630 crore of Tk 889 crore debt, capital market-listed Apollo Ispat Complex had Tk 623 crore of Tk 873 crore debt and Siddiqui Traders had Tk 541 crore of Tk 671 crore debt.
According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank, at the end of March this year, the amount of defaulted loans of the banking sector stood at Tk 1 lakh 82 thousand 295 crores. Last December which was Tk 1 lakh 45 thousand 633 crores. In the span of three months, the amount of defaulted loans has increased by Tk 36,662 crores. Tk 50,674 crore has increased compared to a year ago. Bangladesh Bank has promised to bring down the non-performing loans of private banks below 5 percent and government banks below 10 percent by 2026 by complying with the terms of IMF’s $4.7 billion loan. However, policy-support cannot be kept as now to reduce defaulted loans.
In response to another question from Awami League MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon yesterday, the finance minister said that to stop the loan scam of financial institutions, initiatives have been taken to identify defaulting borrowers and willful defaulting borrowers and take appropriate legal measures against them. The existing law includes provisions relating to defaulting borrowers and willful defaulters. Accordingly circular has been issued from Bangladesh Bank with necessary instructions. Apart from this, to ensure proper utilization of loans, financial institutions have been instructed to ensure that loans in the name of one sector are not used in other sectors and that the money is used properly.