The top 20 loan defaulters in the country seem to be remaining out of the scope of law. Most of the money defaulted by them were intentionally done and the money has been siphoned off to abroad. These ‘big shot’ defaulter are so powerful that the banks are not getting their money returned even after taking the legal actions. According to the authorities concerned, the assets of the loan defaulter have to be forfeited in order to recover the money, if necessary.

According to the analysts, the money people keeping in the banks are going to the influential businessmen and they’re not returning it. It’s increasing defaulted loan which is a big problem for the banking sector as a whole. They said the banks have to be stricter to recover the defaulted loans. The law-enforcing agencies have to show example by taking legal action against at least a few defaulters.

The government’s estimation shows that among the top loan defaulters, there’re CLC Power Company (defaulted loans of Tk 1,640 crore 44 lakh), Western Marine Shipyard (Tk 1,529 crore 74 lakh), Remakes Footwear (TK 1,077 crore 63 lakh), Rising Still (Tk 990 crore 28 lakh), Mohammad Elias Brothers (Tk 965 crore 60 lakh), Rupali Composite Leatherwear (Tk 873 crore 29 lakh), Crescent Leather (Tk 855 crore  22 Lakh), Quantum Powers Systems (811 crore 33 lakh), Saad Musa Fabrics (776 crore 63 lakh), BR Spinning Mills (Tk 721 crore 43 lakh), SA Oil Refinery (Tk 703 crore 53 lakh), Maisha Property Development (Tk 663 crore 18 lakh), Radium Composite Textile (TK 660 crore 42 lakh), Samannaz Super Oil (Tk 651 crore 7 lakh), Manha Precast Technology (Tk 647 crore 16 lakh), Asian Education (Tk 635 crore 94 lakh), MM Steel Re-rolling Mills (Tk 630 crore 26 lakh), Apollo Steel Complex (Tk 623 crore 34 lakh), Ehsan Steel Re-rolling (Tk 590 crore 23 lakh), Siddique Traders (Tk 541 crore 20 lakh).

In a recent event, renowned economist Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the research institute Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), “Influential businessmen are taking a part of the deposits that ordinary people keep in banks, but they don’t even returning it. This is increasing defaulted loans, which is a major problem in the banking sector.”

In that event, another economist Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud,”Without political will, bad debt will not be reduced. Even the direction of International Monetary Fund (IMF) won't work.”

In this regard, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Mejbaul Haque told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “Due to the epidemic of coronavirus, various concessions have been given in the past two years to recover defaulted loans. However, in the country's bank sector, in the October-December quarter of last year, defaulted loans decreased by about 14 thousand crores. We keep trying and gradually more defaulted loans will be recovered. For this, various directions are being given to the banks all the time.”

The former governor of Bangladesh Bank, Salehuddin Ahmed told The Bangladesh Pratidin,“Most of the defaulted loans are being defaulted intentionally. So these willful defaulters will not voluntarily return the money to the bank. The law should be strictly enforced to recover money from them. The Judiciary must set an example by affirming the punishment so that seeing it others return the loan money. If necessary to recover the money, all the properties of these defaulters should be confiscated. Finally, the total amount of loans in the country's bank sector is Tk 14 lakh 77 thousand 788 crores. Out of this, defaulted loans of private banks are 5.13 percent, 20.28 percent of state-owned banks, 4.91 percent of defaulted loans in foreign banks. The defaulted loans of specialized banks are around 13 percent.”

Former Professor of Department of Economics of Chattogram University, Mainul Islam recently said, “The country's "Intentional Defaulters" are able to use their financial power and political influence to keep the cases pending for years. Most of these defaulted loans are siphoned off the country. They are buying houses abroad, doing business and supporting their families. Taking into account the various problems and lengthy procedures of our judicial system, it is now necessary to form a tribunal to speed up the trial of the top 10 defaulters of all banks.”

@The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on April 13 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque