The Bangladesh Bank has found irregularities in disbursing Tk83 crore loans by private lender IFIC Bank under the stimulus package, which the government provided as part of its effort to keep the economy operational during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A central bank inspection team unearthed the scam, which took place in three branches – Motijheel’s Federation branch, Gulshan branch, Narayanganj branch – of the commercial bank.
The disbursed amount was misused, the BB team found.
It identified that the Federation branch on 24 February last year lended Tk13.5 crore to the Anwar Cement Limited for increasing its working capital. However, the company used the money to repay its previous loans, breaking the central bank’s rule.
The bank regulator earlier declared that no entity would be allowed to use the low-interest fund for repaying its previous loans.
The BB inspection report said the loan recipient Anwar Cement, on the same day, transferred Tk1 crore to its another account with NCC Bank, Tk1.60 crore to sister concern Anwar Ispat’s account with Trust Bank, and Tk11.13 crore to other accounts with several other banks to repay the previous loans.
The Gulshan branch disbursed Tk10 crore to SQ Sales Limited, and Tk5 crore to Sonia and Sweaters Limited for working capital purposes. These two companies also used the money in repaying loans.
Although Sonia and Sweaters received the loan on a condition of paying workers’ wages, the BB inspection team did not find…
