The authorities of credit scam-hit Hall-Mark Group has appealed the prime minister to influence execution of the finance minister’s directive to reopen the shut-down factories of the group through appointing administrators in protecting the land and factories.
They also requested Sheikh Hasina to issue a directive asking the authorities to devise a plan on how the defunct group would pay the loans back to state-owned Sonali Bank.
Making the appeal, the group’s lawyer sent a request letter last week to 11 government authorities, including Finance Minister AMA Muhith, State Minister for Law and Parliamentary affairs Kamrul Islam, Commerce Minister GM Quader, Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, Sonali Bank CEO, Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman, BGMEA and FBCCI.
The intervention would help save livelihood of 40,000 employees of 50 companies of the group and stop every day losses of Tk20m, the letter reads.
Hall-Mark Group described eight types of financial losses by its companies and factories – the machinery and goods may be stolen, uncertainty over the employees’ fate, interest on loans from Sonali Bank will go up and country will be deprived of foreign exchange would have earned by the group companies.
In March, the finance minister directed the officials concerned to take necessary step to restart, at any cost, the closed factories of Hall-Mark Group which was involved in the largest ever loan scandal of around Tk35bn. He had also directed utilising all the resources of the business group.
The group urged the authorities to free its Managing Director Tanveer Mahmud and General Manager Tusher Ahmed, who are now in Dhaka Central Jail on charge of credit scam and forgery, to facilitate running their factories and pay back the Sonali Bank loan.
In the letter, the group mentioned that shutting down the factories causes loss to machineries worth Tk5bn and resources worth Tk56bn while some 40,000 garment workers are now jobless.
It also reads: "The Hall-Mark Group repaid its loans and dues of Sonali Bank regularly during last six years and repaid Tk4.05bn of Sonali Bank till May through collecting fund from different sources."
