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Defaulted loans of the NBFI stood at Tk 1,900 crore as of December last year
People’s Leasing and Financial Services (PLFS) has received only Tk 30 crore from defaulters, a year and nine months since the government approved liquidating the ailing non-bank financial institution (NBFI).
The defaulters of PLFS have provided the amount to the liquidator appointed by the High Court in mid-July of 2019.
“We received about Tk 30 crore from the defaulters since July 2019,” PLFS liquidator Md Asaduzzaman Khan said.
It is not possible to disburse the money to the depositors until a larger amount is recovered, he added.
The total outstanding loans of PLFS were Tk 1,131 crore as of June 2018, which became defaulted as some of its former directors and other borrowers took out the money in the name of loans.
Defaulted loans of the NBFI stood at Tk 1,900 crore with interest as of December last year, according to an audited report by the central bank.
The defaulters of PLFS did not return the money for a long time, but the High Court recently summoned them and ordered them to return the money to the liquidator, said an official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) directly involved in the liquidation process.
As a result, some of the defaulters are returning the money to the liquidator, he added.
The High Court on January 21 summoned 280 loan defaulters of PLFS and asked for an explanation from them on why they were not returning the money they had taken out as loans from the institution.
Then on March 17, former PLFS director Arefin Shamsul Alamin returned Tk 8.50 crore to the liquidator of PLFS.
Some other defaulters have promised to return the money as soon as possible, BB officials said.
In July 2019, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) ordered freezing all bank accounts and shares in the name of the nine directors of PLFS, including Alamin, who were fired owing to major irregularities. Besides, the High Court has also ordered a travel ban on them.
The total amount of deposits of PLFS stand at about Tk 2,500 crore, as per the audited report. But it is still uncertain if the depositors will get back their money.
A total of 20 officials, including former PLFS officials, are involved in the liquidation process. The liquidator spends Tk 11 lakh every month to liquidate the institution.
On June 26, 2019, the finance ministry issued a directive that allowed the Bangladesh Bank to go for liquidation of PLFS due to the company’s failure to pay back depositors’ money.
It was the first liquidation in Bangladesh’s financial sector in line with the Financial Institutions Act, 1993.
PLFS is one of the four NBFIs from which rogue banker Proshanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, swindled at least Tk 3,500 crore.
(DT)
