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Bangladesh Bank yesterday ordered non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) not to disburse loans using cheques of current accounts they have to maintain with the central bank.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had discovered that the cheques were used in some of the major scams perpetrated in the NBFI sector, said officials of the central bank.
Every NBFI has to have a current account with the central bank to maintain their cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio.
The NBFIs are allowed to use the cheques when they want to withdraw funds from the central bank or settle any inter-bank loans or liabilities such as call money.
Some delinquent NBFIs used the cheques to give out loans to the scammers so that no suspicion arose among watchdogs, explained a BB official.
Usually no question is raised when cheques of current accounts with the central bank are placed for withdrawal or transfer of funds.
The cheques enabled the scammers to seamlessly withdraw funds from banks.
And this was what the swindlers capitalised on to siphon off funds, unearthed the BFIU and the ACC.
And this has prompted the central bank to send letters to all NBFIs, barring them from disbursing any loans using the BB current account cheques.
Prashanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, swindled a large amount of money from four NBFIs using the BB cheques.
Halder, a former managing director of NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance who is believed to be living in Canada on fleeing from Bangladesh, is one of the people responsible for the vulnerable situation now plaguing the NBFI sector.
He and his associates siphoned off around Tk 4,000 crore to Tk 5,000 crore from four NBFIs — International Leasing and Financial Services, FAS Finance & Investment, People’s Leasing and Financial Services, and Reliance Finance.
Falling victim to the scams in recent years, a good number of the NBFIs are now unable to repay depositors in spite of their funds reaching maturity.
Non-performing loans in the country’s 34 NBFIs stood at Tk 11,757 crore as of September last year, up 17 per cent year-on-year, shows data of the BB.
(TDS)
