Home ›› 03 Aug 2022 ›› Stock
Uttara Finance and Investments Limited has requested the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) not to allow Monno Group Chairwomen Afroza Khan and Monno Welfare Foundation to transfer any shares from their BO accounts.
It made the appeal as the group has huge outstanding liabilities worth around Tk 300 crore with the financial institution.
On Sunday, the stock market regulator instructed both the companies to explain their positions and submit the relevant papers on Wednesday to it.
On July 20, 2022, Uttara Finance wrote to the BSEC not to allow Afroza Khan and Monno Welfare Foundation to transfer any shares from their BO accounts.
The transmission of shares from Eastern Capital Limited to Shyamol Equity Management Limited is prohibited since they have huge outstanding liabilities of around Tk 300 crore with Uttara Finance in the names of their companies: Monno Ceramics Industries, Monno Bone China, Monno Fabrics Limited, and Afroza Khan.
Mohammad Mohibur Rahaman, Company Secretary of Uttara Finance, told The Business Post, "We (Uttara Finance) have given Tk 300 crores to Monno Group as various term loans. Some of the group's shares were mortgaged against the loans. But the group wants to transfer to another brokerage house.”
To end the dispute, the BSEC is expected to meet with both the parties on Wednesday.
The financial institution disbursed loans to Monno Group during the tenure of former Uttara Finance Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer SM Shamsul Arefin.
On June 23 this year, Bangladesh Bank removed Arefin from his position due to his involvement in loan disbursement irregularities to some companies.
In early 2021, Uttara Finance hit headlines for loan irregularities involving about Tk 6,000 crore, putting depositors’ money at risk.
The central bank unearthed the irregularities while inspecting the financial reports of Uttara Finance until 2020.
The BSEC recently extended the deadline for the submission of the special audit report of the company, which was conducted by Rahman Rahman Huq, Chartered Accountants.
Last year, the securities regulator dispatched auditors to Uttara Finance to investigate the financial statements of the errant non-bank financial institution.
The irregularities include lending money to the director’s company without paperwork and paying huge amounts of cash to its chairman for no concrete reason.
Apart from these, the central bank also revealed other irregularities such as creating fake loans to withdraw Tk 335 crore for Uttara Group and the managing director’s involvement in taking out money without any approval.
