Controversial S Alam Group took Tk聽10,629 crore in loans from a branch of Janata Bank in Chattogram, and the entire amount has now defaulted.
According to Janata Bank鈥檚 internal reports, the General Insurance Bhaban Corporate Branch alone disbursed Tk聽10,629 crore 鈥� nearly 97 per cent of the branch鈥檚 total loan portfolio 鈥� to the group.
The branch currently holds deposits of only Tk 110 crore, indicating that the loans were financed by diverting funds from other branches.
A review of Janata Bank鈥檚 records as of June 2025 showed that the General Insurance Bhaban branch in Chattogram had an outstanding loan portfolio of Tk聽10,959 crore provided to 447 clients, of which Tk聽10,941 crore have become non-performing.
Out of this, Tk 10,629 crore went to six companies of S Alam Group, representing almost the entire exposure of the branch.
Badal Kanti Das, assistant general manager of the General Insurance Bhaban branch in Chattogram, confirmed to 抖阴精品 that all loans taken by S Alam Group have turned defaulted.
He said that the loans were approved by the bank鈥檚 head office, not at the branch level, and that no anonymous or unrecorded loans were issued.
The bank was pursuing legal action against the defaulters, he said.
The lending to S Alam Group violated Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 single borrower exposure limit.
Under the Bank Company Act, a bank cannot lend more than 15 per cent of its paid-up capital as funded loans and 10 per cent as non-funded loans to a single group.
As of June 2025, Janata Bank鈥檚 paid-up capital stood at Tk聽2,314 crore, meaning the maximum a single group could borrow was Tk聽578.5 crore in total.
The branch disbursed Tk聽1,942 crore for S Alam Trading Company, Tk 1,800 crore for S Alam Refined Sugar, Tk 786 crore for S Alam Super Edible Oil, Tk 1,574 crore for S Alam Vegetable Oil, Tk 1,964 crore for Global Trading, and Tk 2,180 crore for S Alam Cold Rolled Steel.
The central bank remained silent despite knowing that the S Alam Group had taken loans exceeding its limit.
Out of the Tk 53,848 crore owed to Janata Bank by its top 20 defaulting clients, nearly Tk 40,000 crore is stuck with just three groups鈥擝eximco, S Alam, and Anontex.