THE Sonali Bank has floated tenders 60 times between 2013 and 2017 to sell the mortgaged assets of Hall-Mark Group but got no buyers. The recovery of nearly Tk 3,000 crore from the scamster now appears to be uncertain. Buyers are not showing any interest to buy the disputed properties apprehending that it might invite trouble for them in the future. Now, Sonali Bank can neither use the properties nor sell those.
The machinery of Hall-Mark is gradually losing production potentials as they have remained unused for long. Moreover, the Sonali Bank has to count more money now to guard the mortgaged assets at its own cost. It is not the end! The bank had also to bear the cost of running about five dozen advertisements in different newspapers. The bank authorities is now considering the possibilities of turning the Hall-Mark factory complex, built on over 61.17 acres of mortgaged land, into an economic zone.
The Bangladesh Bank in 2012 found that the company took Tk 2,964 crore in loans from the then Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank between 2010 and May 2012 using forged documents. It’s assets and infrastructures are worth Tk 1,170 crore and of this, the Group has mortgaged assets are worth Tk 389 crore. What was most surprising that, the money came from Sonali Bank in the form of short-term loans for 120 days, which was a gross violation of banking rules.
Most of the country’s state-owned and private commercial banks are now bearing the brunt of bad loans which are almost irrecoverable. They have disbursed the loans without verifying the fixed assets and other wealth of the loan-seekers. Very recently, a Bangladesh Bank data showed that depositors have withdrawn several thousand crores of taka between December last year and June, 2018. And the main reason behind the high lending interest rate is large amount of bad loans. Most of the banks are now facing this problem as they are unable to get back their money.
The Finance Ministry along with the Bangladesh Bank should take an initiative so that the banks could realize their bad loans. Otherwise, all banks may have to face the identical fate of the Sonali Bank.
