Two new chairmen have been appointed at the state-owned commercial banks Sonali and Janata for the next three years.
Two separate notifications were issued by the Financial Institution Division (FID) of the finance ministry in this regard on Wednesday.
Former comptroller and auditor general of Bangladesh and Finance Secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury has been appointed as the new director and chairman of Sonali Bank, the largest bank in the country, where he will serve for the next three years.
Earlier,Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui resigned from the chairman position of Sonali Bank on August 19,two weeks after the Awami League government was ousted in a mass uprising led by students.
He became the Sonali Bank chairman in 2019 and was reappointed in August 2022. Previously, Ziaul Served as the deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank from 2006 to 2011. In between, he was also an adviser at the Beximco Group.
Meanwhile, former secretary M Fazlur Rahman was appointed as the new director and chairman of Janata Bank, where he will also serve for the next three years.
Before him, SM Mahfuzur Rahman was the bank's chairman. He was appointed as the chairman in July 202 and reappointed in August 2023.
Mahfuzuris also the vice-chancellor of BGMEA Fashion and Technology University.He has also served as a director of Rupali Bank and the chairman of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.
Both state-owned banks — Sonali and Janata —have repeatedly become the talk of the town due to their involvement in major loan scams over the years.
With the help of the Hasina regime, Hallmark Group had scammed over Tk 3,500 crore from Sonali Bank in the name of loans. The massive loan fraud took place between 2010 and 2012.
On the other hand, the large loan scams of Janata Bank included Bismillah Group, AnonTex and Crescent Leather.
Bismillah Group took out over Tk 500 crore in the name of loans from the bank, AnonTex more than Tk 5,500 crore and Crescent Leather over Tk 1,200 crore.
