During 2010-2012 BASIC Bank and Hall-Mark were engulfed in scams

The default loan of state-owned Sonali Bank has risen over 50% following the Hall-Mark Group loan scam, said the bank Managing Director Obayed Ullah Al Masud.

Masud said this while exchanging views with the reporters at his office on Wednesday. The deputy managing directors and general managers of the bank were also present on the occasion.

“The defaulter does not have the amount of collateral needed to show against the loan sanctioned. In reality, there has not been any disbursement of loan, rather it was a complete theft which led the default loan to nearly 50%.”

When it comes to Sonali Bank, the name of Hall-Mark Group surfaces automatically, Obayed Ullah said, adding that from 2010 to 2012 the banking and housing sectors, plus stock market went through a situation like ‘Tsunami’ while BASIC Bank and Hall-Mark Group were engulfed in scams.

At present, Sonali Bank deposit stands at Tk100,000 crore. Of which, Tk38,000 crore has been disbursed as loan. Among the disbursements, a Tk10,000-crore loan has become default while Tk7,000 crore classified and Tk2,000 crore stuck in a rescheduling writ.

“Of the total loan, Tk19,000 crore are default amount. Therefore, it is high time we got to bring down the amount of default loans,” said the seasoned banker.

Among the 1,210 Sonali Bank branches, a total of 20 are vulnerable with 84% default loans while five others with 54% default loans.

Citing the reasons behind default loans, he said, a number of loan sharks have appropriated the amount of money. In fact, big loanees have big amount in their hand in some big branches.

The bank has taken up measures like waiving interest, rescheduling and legal action to realise the default loans.

The central bank investigation found that the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch of Sonali Bank gave Hall-Mark and five other companies Tk3,547 crore on fake documents.