BAB again in the role of fundraising.
Former Exim Bank Chairman Nazrul Islam Majumder when he was the chairman of the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) used to collect donations from banks every year in the name of various programs and deposit them in the relief fund of the fallen government’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He forced the banks to donate huge amounts of money for organizing two back-to-back football tournaments in the name of Sheikh Hasina. Even though the BAB leadership changed with the fall of the Awami League government the old policy did not change at all. And this organization of private bank owners once again took on as a collector.
It is learnt that this time an initiative has been taken to collect about 40 million taka from the banks to help organize an international competition. For this, the amount of money has been determined according to the capacity of the banks. BAB has recently sent letters to the chairmen of 41 banks to deposit that money as soon as possible. But the chairmen of some banks have expressed their anger over such an initiative to collect money as before.
It is learned that the competition is being organized in Dhaka in the first week of February. An application was sent to the new chairman of BAB, Abdul Hai Sarkar, by the organizing organization at the end of last November to sponsor the implementation of this program. Later, BAB itself collected 4 crore taka from the banks for the organization. The amount of donation has also been determined in the letter sent to the banks in this regard.
In this regard, banks with good performance have been asked to donate 20 lakh taka, those with average performance have been asked to donate 10 lakh taka, and those with lagging performance have been asked to donate 5 lakh taka.
Though several times BAB Chairman Abdul Hai Sarkar’s mobile phone was called to get a statement on this issue, he didn’t pick. Later, by introducing as journalist, an SMS was sent to his mobile phone; he did not respond to that too.
BAB Vice Chairman Romo Rouf Chowdhury told our time in this regard, a marathon is happening in our country. We should participate in such an organization. The amount of money we are collecting overall is not very much. Transparency has been ensured in this regard. No one is being forced to pay this money. We have only requested it from BAB.
However, such initiative has started criticizing in Bankpara to force the collection of donation as before. Expressing anger over such activities of BAB, the chairmen of some banks told our time that the activities for which BAB was criticized earlier have started again. Such activities of forcing people to pay money in the name of assistance must be stopped.
The usual trends in providing the fund from any bank are Corporate Social Responsibility fundings, though Bangladesh Bank issued a policy which stated how much money a bank can invest or spent on which particular sectors in their CSR activities. The policy, in relation to the above, on January 9, 2022, stipulated that there were instructions to spend 30 percent of the total CSR of banks on education, 30 percent on health, 20 percent on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and 20 percent on other sectors that include income-generating activities, disaster management, infrastructure development, sports and culture, among others.
But in the last fifteen years, a lion’s share of CSR spending was focused on the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund’. Because during this time, Nazrul Islam Majumder, who is considered a close aide to Sheikh Hasina, was the chairman of BAB. He is accused of conducting unabated extortion of banks in the name of contributing to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. He would force the bank chairmen and MDs to go to Ganobhaban on any occasion or accident and donate money to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. Thus, hundreds of crores of taka were deposited in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund every year on behalf of the banks. Besides, Nazrul Islam Majumder collected at least 20 crore taka from banks in the name of organizing two football tournaments in the name of Sheikh Hasina. While many bank chairmen were annoyed with his activities, they kept their mouths shut out of fear. However, on August 5, the very next day of its collapse, Bangladesh Bank had axed Nazrul Islam Majumder from holding the charge of director and chairman of Exim Bank and reshuffled the board of directors of the bank, with which position he lost that of the chairman of BAB as well.
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