Home ›› 01 Mar 2023 ›› Front
The AnonTex Group has secured an additional Tk 1,308 crore interest waiver on loans taken from the scam-hit Janata Bank. Of the figure, Tk 972 crore is uncharged and Tk 336 crore is penalty interest.
Janata Bank granted the waiver to this company at a recent meeting, and The Business Post has obtained a copy of the meeting minutes.
It should be noted that the garment manufacturer is already enjoying a Tk 2,051 crore waiver on charged interest on its bad loans under the “One Time Exit” policy.
Janata Bank disbursed around Tk 3,527.9 crore in loans to 22 companies of AnonTex Group between 2010 and 2015. This figure exceeds 25 per cent of the lender’s capital base and violates the single borrower exposure limit set by the Bank Company Act 1991.
According to Janata Bank Chairman SM Mahfuzur Rahman, the bank’s board of directors granted the interest waiver facility to AnonTex in November last year. The company has already paid back Tk 141 crore, bank officials say.
Meanwhile, the meeting minutes mentions that the bad loans of the group will be classified as regular loans till March 31 this year, and if the customer fails to repay the loans, then it will fall under the bad and lost category once again.
The client will have to pay off the actual loans by June 15 this year, said the meeting minutes.
Industry insiders, however, point out that such loan irregularities are one of the key factors behind Janata Bank’s deteriorating financial health.
This has drawn severe criticism from the banking sector with many wondering how AnonTex will repay this large amount of debt within June this year, after being unable to pay loan installments regularly in the last few years.
Despite frequent efforts over phone, Janata Bank’s Managing Director Md Abdus Salam Azad could not be reached for his comments on the issue till filing of this report.
A number of Janata Bank officials claimed that S Alam Group, a business conglomerate in Bangladesh, is taking over the debt of AnonTex.
Mahfuzur said AnonTex will conclude the dealings with Janata Bank within the next six months.
When asked about the reported takeover of AnonTex loans by S Alam Group, he said, “The group has bought several AnonTex companies, along with their liabilities in our bank, but we do not know about S Alam Group’s upcoming plans in this regard.”
“The recovery of loans is our first priority, and we are not interested to learn about other details.”
He continued, “We have waived the interest on AnonTex loans as per the central bank policy. There is a provision to waive interest, which is subject to the recovery of the cost of funds. This is a standard practice used for recovering bad loans.”
“If the whole process is completed successfully, Janata Bank’s financial health will improve. We acknowledge that we have not been able to recover AnonTex loans for years. This process is underway with approval or NOC (no objection certificate) from the finance ministry and the central bank.”
Expressing his concerns, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh’s Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur said, “I have serious doubts whether AnonTex will be able to repay their outstanding loans within the June deadline.”
“How can a group such as this avail of such a large interest waiver?”
Janata Bank used to be one of the most reputed state-owned banks in Bangladesh, but loan scams centring AnonTex and Crescent Group have tarnished the bank’s image.
Bad loans of the bank stood at Tk 5,818 crore at the end of 2017, which later jumped to Tk 14,386.78 crore at the end of December last year. When approached for comments, AnonTex Group Managing Director Md Younus Badal declined to speak on the issue.
