Rejoinder, our reply

Major (Rtd.) Abdul Mannan, chairman of Sunman Group, sent a rejoinder to a report headlined "Scam-hit BIFC suffers losses for sixth straight year" published in The Daily Star on September 15, 2022.  

Here is the full text of the rejoinder:

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

In the article, the reporter alleged, "Moreover, a business group owned by Abdul Mannan, a former state minister, plundered around Tk 1,000 crore, showed a case statement of the Anti-Corruption Commission earlier. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) found that Mannan and his family members embezzled Tk 518 crore from BIFC between 2005 and 2015 in the form of loans against 53 fictitious companies and individuals."

These above allegations are false and defamatory in nature, which caused a fatal blow to my reputation and social status, and I am saddened by the fact that a renowned newspaper, like, yours, published such a false report without checking the authenticity of the facts. Even the reporter did not feel necessary to ask me to clarify the matters. The reality is that all these allegations against me and my family were brought by the illegal Board of Directors that was formed by the PK Halder gang.

By now, we all know that PK Halder deliberately damaged multiple financial institutions in this country by embezzling thousands of crores of taka and his loyal board members of BIFC were an enabler of his crime. So, their allegations against my family are part of the widespread conspiracy.

We appreciate that the Honorable High Court has terminated PK Halder-associated board members and appointed new directors. The court also stated that in the last five years, "P. K. Halder embezzled around Tk 500 crore from this institution. To cover up their crime, they purposefully shifted the blame on the shoulder of the founder chairman of the board, Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan and his family with the intention to damage our image and reputation. In reality, Major Mannan and other sponsor directors were forcefully removed from the board in 2015, when BIFC was a profitable financial institution".

Finally, the High Court removed PK Halder-appointed board of directors, which is an initial step towards the right direction.

However, the reporter should not have missed the following facts:

I and other shareholders raised the BIFC paid-up capital from Tk 2.5 crore in 1998 to Tk 100 crore by 2013. My board ran BIFC profitably until 2014 before the board was hostilely taken over by the PK Halder gang.

During my period, the total loan outstanding against 42 borrowers was Tk 176 crore confirmed by the audit report of Howlader Yunus & Co., dated April 14, 2017.

As part of the cover-up and diversionary tactics, the PK Halder board linked me and my family with the BIFC's regular loan given to 42 borrowers over a period of 11 years (2005-2015). The remaining outstanding loan against these 42 borrowers was Tk 176 crore which was cunningly inflated to Tk 518 crore by the PK Halder board.

The 42 borrowers have been willing to repay Tk 176 crore with interest. However, the PK Halder board, instead of allowing them to repay the outstanding loans, filed a number of Artho-Rin-Adalot cases for Tk 850 crore and that indeed had created an impasse in the loan recovery from the 42 borrowers.

I have been negotiating with the current court-appointed board to get Tk 176 crore repaid by the borrowers, which, however, are still waiting for the current board decision. Meanwhile, I paid Tk 10 crore as on December 2021 by the order of the Hon'ble High Court. Thus, the balance of the loan from 42 borrowers has remained at Tk 166 crore as of now.

PK Halder's siphoning of Tk 510 crore of BIFC money during 2016-2020 has been confirmed by the Bangladesh Bank, which the shareholders want to be returned as soon as possible.

We appealed to the Honorable High Court for the installation of the shareholder's board, elected through the 18th annual general meeting held in August 2018, which is pending in the High Court.

OUR REPLY

The rejoinder ignores the fact that our report is fully based on the findings of two well-known and highly reputed government bodies: the Bangladesh Bank and the Anti-Corruption Commission. The facts in our article came from the official documents of the two organisations.