Bangladesh Bank appointed a supervisor for Islami Bank in December 2010, prompted by fears of loan irregularities.
Since then, a director-level official (then General Manager) of the central bank used to attend various meetings of the Sharia-based bank.
A Chattogram-based industrial group took over the bank in 2017 with a supervisor keeping a watchful eye on the process. Later, the central bank withdrew the supervisor from the largest private bank in March 2020.
The then governor of Bangladesh Bank, Fazle Kabir, was not in favor of having a supervisor in Islami Bank, although six other scheduled banks still have supervisors on their boards.
Apart from this, the regulator has started appointing coordinators in some more banks.
Against such a backdrop, a question arose as to what prompted the central bank to bring back the supervisor from the Islamic bank. Some even pointed fingers at the regulator, saying that the step was taken to plug irregularities.
The modus operandi used to withdraw money from Islamic banks in the name of shell companies is very similar to the infamous PK Haldar financial scam.
