State-owned BASIC and Sonali banks have sought Tk1,500 crore from the government as the scam-hit banks are now facing acute liquidity crisis due to poor management and rampant corruption.
An official of the finance division said: “We are waiting for the green signal from the finance minister to disburse that amount to the trouble-prone banks as they sought fund from the budget.”
The fund is badly needed for the scam-hit BASIC bank to run its regular operation, he said.
According to the proposal, the BASIC board of directors has sought Tk700 crore from the budgetary allocation of the finance division although the capital shortfall of the bank amounted to Tk2,200 crore at the end of last month.
Former chairman of the bank Sheikh Abdul Hai Bacchu was allegedly blamed for creating the capital shortfall as he illegally provided loans for little-known clients.
Besides, the Sonali Bank board of director has sought for Tk800 crore as its capital shortfall has increased to Tk1,800 crore due to loan forgery and embezzlement of Tk3,600 crore by the little-known Hallmark Group.
Sonali Bank’s capital shortfall was Tk895 crore as of December 31, 2013.
Finance division officials alleged that Sonali Bank was showing the excuse of paying the pending pension arrears of the retired army officers for getting the recapitalisation fund.
Commercial banks including Sonali Bank received Tk4,100 crore as recapitalisation fund in December last year after it faced severe liquidity crisis due to the loan scams.
Regarding recapitalisation, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday said, “We have allocated fund in the current fiscal year budget for strengthening those state-owned commercial banks.”
But now the finance division needs to allocate funds for reducing the loss of the commercial banks, which is poised to be a burden for the country’s economy, the minister said, expressing his frustration.
“We have already received proposals from the scam-hit BASIC and Sonali Banks for Tk1,500-crore fund to recapitalise them, which is likely to be disbursed by the end of December,” he also said.
Regarding the disbursement of recapitalisation funds for the state-run banks, the finance minister last year lambasted the management and executives of the state-owned banks for losing even their capital due to poor management.
“You have eaten up the money given repeatedly to improve the capital base. It is not at all good for the country’s banking industry,” he told a recent meeting with the chairmen and CEOs of the six state-owned commercial and specialised banks at the Finance Ministry.
The six banks are Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC and BDBL.
