Got foreign investment as per rules: Padma Bank

Responding to media reports and the graft watchdog Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) statement, Padma Bank has claimed the central bank approved foreign investment in it in accordance with all laws and international accounting standards.

In a statement on Monday, the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ehsan Khasru said, “The Bangladesh Bank did not spare Padma Bank in any way in the latter’s initiative to bring in foreign investment. Rather, it helped Padma Bank make the financial statement compact.”

“The central bank smoothened Padma Bank’s initiative to bring in foreign investment by doing research as per rules in order to make the process easy and simple. It did not spare the bank in any way in this regard. Everything has been carried out maintaining transparency,” he said.

Khasru said he was surprised at the TIB statement that branded such a transparent initiative as an “unethical and fraudulent advantage”.

“Without any research, analysis, and cross-checking, issuing such a ‘false’ and ‘misleading’ statement by an international organisation based on only media reports is a surprising incident,” he said, describing it as a non-transparent statement by a transparent organisation.

Khasru said the way the central bank had helped Padma Bank as a regulatory body was nothing new in Bangladesh.

“The Bangladesh Bank extended similar support to state-run Sonali, Janata, Agrani, and Rupali banks as well as ICB Islamic Bank in the past,” he added.

He said DelMorgan and Co agreed to invest in Padma Bank after examining and researching the bank’s account statement for the year 2020.

Besides, he said no vague information was provided in this regard, and there was no fraudulence.

“All the media reports the TIB statement was based on were false, untrue, and misleading,” said Khasru, adding Padma Bank would publish its financial statement for the year 2021, which had been prepared with transparency and accountability.

He said after beginning afresh as Padma Bank from the erstwhile Farmers Bank, there was no fraudulence in its activities. “Everything has been done maintaining transparency and accountability as well as following all rules of the central bank,” he added.