Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Body Files Tk1,963 Crore Loan Fraud Case Against Bank Officials and S Alam Group Executives
Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission has filed a case against 34 individuals, including senior officials from state-owned Janata Bank and executives connected to the S Alam Group conglomerate, over allegations of a Tk1,963.5 crore (£1.6 billion) loan fraud scheme. The complaint, filed on 7 December 2025, accuses the defendants of criminal breach of trust, abuse of authority, and violating banking regulations in a coordinated effort that allegedly caused substantial financial losses to one of Bangladesh's largest state-owned banks.
Background and Context
The case emerges amid ongoing scrutiny of Bangladesh's banking sector, which has faced repeated challenges with loan defaults and financial irregularities in recent years. State-owned banks, which control approximately 30% of Bangladesh's banking sector assets, have been particularly vulnerable to organized loan fraud schemes. The Anti-Corruption Commission, established in 2004 as Bangladesh's primary anti-graft agency, has intensified its investigations into banking sector malpractices following several high-profile collapses of financial institutions.
Key Figures and Entities
The First Information Report names Rashedul Alam, managing director of Global Trading Corporation Ltd – a subsidiary of the influential S Alam Group – as a primary accused, alongside company directors Farzana Begum, Mohammad Abdus Sabur, Md Shahidul Alam, Md Saiful Alam, and Md Osman Gani. The S Alam Group, one of Bangladesh's largest conglomerates with interests in banking, textiles, shipping, and real estate, has previously faced regulatory scrutiny over its financial practices.
Among the Janata Bank officials implicated are former chairman SM Mahfuzur Rahman and former managing director and CEO Md Abdus Salam Azad. Additional senior executives named in the complaint include Kamran Ahsan, Shahidul Haque, Masfiul Bari, Kamruzzaman Khan, Abdul Jabbar, Tajul Islam, and Ismail Hossain. Two inspection-service executives, Khandaker Robiul Haque and Khandaker Zahirul Haque, were also accused of facilitating the alleged irregularities, according to the ACC filing.
Legal and Financial Mechanisms
According to the ACC's complaint, the accused allegedly colluded to unlawfully secure loan limits, systematically violate loan conditions, and create excessive funded and non-funded liabilities. The scheme reportedly involved approving and renewing loan limits in contravention of established banking rules and internal guidelines, creating irregular Letters of Trust Receipt liabilities, and allowing import transactions without ensuring mandatory documentation, collateral, or insurance coverage. These mechanisms allegedly enabled the movement of substantial funds outside standard regulatory oversight.
International Implications and Policy Response
The scale of the alleged fraud raises concerns about Bangladesh's financial regulatory framework and its effectiveness in preventing systemic banking sector corruption. International financial institutions, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, have previously recommended strengthening Bangladesh's banking oversight mechanisms and enhancing transparency in state-owned financial institutions. The case may accelerate ongoing discussions about implementing more robust anti-money laundering measures and improving corporate governance standards across Bangladesh's financial sector.
Sources
This report draws on the First Information Report filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bangladesh on 7 December 2025, publicly available corporate records from the Bangladesh Bank, and coverage by The Business Standard. Additional context was obtained from previous ACC investigations and international financial sector assessments published between 2020 and 2025.
