National Board of Revenue (NBR) discussed member Matiur Rahman is director of state-owned Sonali Bank Plc. However, Matiur Rahman is not present at the meeting of the bank’s board of directors held at 11 o’clock on Sunday. He may also be removed from the directorship within this week.
Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui, chairman of the board of the bank, will preside over the meeting today. This information is known from the sources of financial institutions department of the Ministry of Finance and Sonali Bank.
According to the sources, Sonali Bank has been verbally informed by the Financial Institutions Department that Matiur Rahman should not attend the board. The bank also advised Matiur Rahman not to appear and he also accepted it.
This time, on the occasion of Qurbani Eid, the son of Matiur Rahman bought a goat for 1.5 lakh taka from Sadiq Agro in Mohammadpur of the capital and a cow for 70 lakh taka from various farms in Dhaka.
Since then, Matiur Rahman’s son has expensive brand watches, cars, luxurious lifestyle; Discussions have been started regarding properties including resort, shooting spot, bungalow house, land in the name of Matiur Rahman and family members.
Matiur Rahman is the President of Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal. As well as director of Sonali Bank. The Financial Institutions Department recommended that he be appointed as the director of Sonali Bank for a period of three years on February 1, 2022. Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah was the Secretary of the Financial Institutions Department at that time; He retired last month after not being reappointed.
According to the sources, since Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah knew Matiur Rahman well, he was not willing to appoint him as the director of Sonali Bank. But then Finance Secretary Abdur Rauf Talukdar could no longer lobby.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar was requested to give a statement by sending a small message through WhatsApp on Saturday, seeking to know the truth of this allegation. He saw the message but did not reply; Even Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah did not want to talk.
After the recommendation of the Financial Institutions Department, the Board of Sonali Bank did not stop him and Bangladesh Bank also gave the approval easily. It is known that after the recent goat scandal, when everything about Matiur Rahman was revealed, the other directors of the bank sat down. They no longer want Matiur Rahman in the board meeting.
Matiur Rahman’s statement on this matter was called three times this morning but he did not pick up the phone.
Former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui, currently on the Board of Directors of Sonali Bank are former Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department of BUET, Mohammad Kaykobad, former Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, Abul Kalam Azad, former Additional Secretary of Financial Institutions Department, ABM Ruhul Azad, Bangladesh House Building. Former Deputy Managing Director of Finance Corporation Daulatunnahar Khanam, former General Manager of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Mollah Abdul Wadud and Chartered Accountant (CA) firm Basu Banerjee Nath & Company Managing Partner Gopal Chandra Ghosh.
According to bank sources, since he was appointed as a director, he used to try to intervene in those matters when large loan proposals came before the board. In the end he could not succeed because of the strong role of other members of the council. He later concentrated on intervening in the passage and non-passage of small loan proposals that did not come before the council.
When asked, Abdur Rahman Khan, the new secretary of the Financial Institutions Department, refused to comment on the matter.
However, talking to other top officials of the Financial Institutions Department, it is known that Matiur Rahman may be removed from the directorship to protect the dignity of Sonali Bank. This process will start from Sunday.
In this regard, the Executive Director of Policy Research Institute, Ahsan H. Mansoor , told Prothom Alo , ‘Motiur Rahman is no longer being kept as the director of Sonali Bank, it is normal. The question is, who is appointing hundreds of such people who are sitting in important places, why? If there is a proper investigation, I think that Matiur Rahman will lose his eligibility to be a member of NBR.