Md. Shah Alam, an executive director of the Bangladesh Bank whose has allegedly aided and abetted rogue banker PK Halder in swindling at least Tk 3,500 crore out of four non-bank financial institutions, appears to have enabled irregularities that have led to the poor health of another NBFI,Premier Leasing & Finance (PLFL).
Until February 4, Alam was the head of the Department of Financial Institutions and Markets (DFIM), the branch of the central bank responsible for keeping watch on the NBFIs.
Earlier on February 8, a sponsor of the listed 18-year-old NBFI, whose name has been withheld for sake of privacy, sent a complaint letter to the chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission about the irregularities of the PLFL managing director
Dhaka Tribune has a copy of the letter.
In the letter, he blames Abdul Hamid Mia, the current MD of PLFL, for its poor health as a result of the high volume of bad loans.
As of June last year, PLFL’s default loans stood at Tk 384 crore, which was 30.5 per cent of its outstanding loans then, according to data from the BB.
Mia, who used to disburse loans against fake documents, would cover up the tracks by bribing Alam, who was with DFIM since October 2013, first as the general manager and then as its head.
It was during this period that the health of about one-third of the 33 NBFIs has gone south, including PLFL.
Mia has illegally taken cash without taking loan instalments, the letter read. He also took commission against loan facilities to the clients.
PLFL’s present financial health is very fragile owing to these irregularities, according to the written complaint.
So much that it is unable to repay the depositors’ money.
Dhaka Tribune correspondent tried to reach Mia and Alam over the phone yesterday but they did not respond.
“The overall situation of the NBFI is not good,” AKM Mohiuddin Azad, the administrator dispatched by the BB to PLFL in December last year following a court order, told Dhaka Tribune.
The problem of Premier Leasing would not be solved overnight
“But we are trying our best,” said Azad, also an executive director of the central bank.
A BB team is inspecting the ailing NBFI.
“So everything will be understood only after investigation,” he added.
As well as individual depositors, the ailing NBFI is not able to repay the loans taken from various banks and financial institutions.
PLFL is one of the six NBFI that had been on the list of defaulters published in the National Parliament.
In 2016, PLFL’s profit stood at Tk 14.9 crore. In 2019, it came down to Tk 1.96 crore.
Subsequently, the company disbursed no dividend for the year.
Each share of the company, which was listed on the Dhaka bourse in 2005, closed at Tk 7.00 on Tuesday.
The company’s paid-up capital is Tk 132 crore and authorised capital Tk 300 crore.
As per Dhaka Stock Exchange data, the sponsor-directors own a 30 per cent stake in the company, while institutional investors own 24.56 per cent and the general public 45.44 per cent as of January 31.
