Loan Scam: BB slaps credit card ban on Sikders

Bangladesh Bank yesterday banned 10 members of Sikder family and  two officials of Sikder Group from using international credit cards for two years as they took loans from National Bank Ltd beyond their credit card limit grossly violating the banking rules.

The lender gave them $10.58 million (about Tk 91 crore) breaching the credit card limit set by the central bank.

They had spent the amount from 2017 to 2021 and each of them used several credit cards issued by NBL, according to a BB probe.

As  per the rules, a Bangladeshi citizen cannot spend any more than $12,000  [around Tk 10.34 lakh] in a year outside the country using either their  credit card or cash. In the aforementioned years, the 12 individuals  were legally allowed to spend $720,000 (about Tk 6.20 crore) with their  credit cards.

Of the 12 banned, Rick Haque Sikder and Ron Haque Sikder, sons of former NBL chairman Zainul Haque Sikder, are NBL directors.

The  eight other members of the Sikder family are: Momtazul Haque, Dipu  Haque Sikder, Lisa Fatema Haque, Monica Sikder Khan, Mandy Sikder, Zefri  Sikder, Shon Haque Sikder and John Haque Sikder. The two executives of  the Sikder Group are Syed Kamrul Islam and Varvara Zorina.

The central bank yesterday wrote to all lenders, including NBL, asking them not to issue any international credit cards to them.

Contacted,  Md Serajul Islam, spokesperson and an executive director of the BB,  said 12 people had violated the rules of the credit card operation,  which was subsequently proved by the central bank.

NBL has also been asked to stop the operation of foreign currency accounts of Rick, Ron, and Momtazul.

In January, the central bank fined NBL Tk 55 lakh as it had tried to hide the loan-related information of the cardholders.

In  another move, Bangladesh Bank yesterday cancelled the authorised dealer  (AD) licence of NBL's West Dhanmondi branch, meaning the bank would not  be able to handle any foreign exchange-related business, such as export  and import.

The BB probe found that NBL had operated a foreign currency account for ZH Sikder Women's Medical College breaching rules.

The  account was opened with NBL's Dilkusha branch, which was later  transferred to the West Dhanmondi branch, violating the guidelines for  the Foreign Exchange Transactions-2018.

Dilkusha branch will strictly be monitored by the central bank, according to the BB letter.

Despite repeated attempts, this correspondent could not reach NBL Managing Director Md Mehmood Husain for comments.

Zainul  Haque Sikder, who passed away on February 10 last year, and his family  members started to increase their influence in the board of NBL after  2009, plaguing the bank with malpractices, sources said.

Zainul  served as the NBL chairman for 12 years in a row. His wife Monowara  Sikder is now its chairman, while their sons Rick, Ron, and daughter  Parveen Haque Sikder are in the 12-member board of directors.

NBL's  default loans stood at Tk 5,955 crore in December last year, up 186  percent year-on-year, BB data showed. Non-performing loans at the bank  was only Tk 388 crore in 2009. The bank also faced a capital shortfall  of Tk 457 crore last year.