Nazrul Islam Majumdar, a reputed mafia figure in the banking sector, remains behind bars, but his associates are reportedly mounting efforts to seize control of Jamuna Bank.
Nur Mohammad, a former chairman of the bank and known as a close ally of Majumdar, is spearheading this takeover under the guise of bank reform. Once embroiled in corruption allegations and accused of embezzling hundreds of crores of taka, Nur lost his chairmanship following accusations from the central bank regarding financial misconduct.
Following the establishment of an interim government, Nur, a former member of parliament, is reportedly attempting to assert control over Jamuna Bank, despite a murder charge stemming from a past student uprising.
Sources within Jamuna Bank indicate that Majumdar's gang has become increasingly active under Nur's leadership since the interim government took power, raising concerns about potential looting of the institution in the name of reform.
Bank officials said that in the banking sector, only Jamuna Bank is changing its chairman every year. In view of the notification of Bangladesh Bank, the term of the chairman has been made two years from last year.
Due to these reasons, institutional good governance has been established in the bank. The bank is in a good position in all the indicators as there is no unethical pressure on the managers to give and take loans.
But recently, in the name of reforms, the former chairman and director of the bank, Nur Mohammad, is trying to break the established continuity and become the chairman himself before the time.
Not only that the three are pressuring the board and management authorities to give loans to companies owned by Nazrul Islam Majumdar.
According to sources, Nazrul Islam Majumder and Nur Mohammad are known to be very close to the ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government. It was their leadership that pressured various issues from the banking sector and collected subscriptions to the then prime minister's fund.
A murder case has been filed against Nur at Dhanmondi police station for his involvement in the murders during the July uprising of students. The case number is 4451 (6) 1 in Dhanmondi police station.
During the Awami League government, Nur served as the chairman of Jamuna Bank twice. At that time, allegations of nepotism and direct interference in the activities of the management authority of the bank were made against him. It was even caught in Bangladesh Bank's inspection.
The inspection proved that he had given jobs to his daughter, son-in-law and other close people with very high salary. According to the inspection report, Nur appointed his daughter Sadia bint Nur as a doctor at the Jamuna Bank Foundation Complex.
In the financial year 2022-23, she received salary from two sources as administrator and head of dental of the complex, which is account number 00100310026985 and the total amount of which is about 56 lakh 31 thousand taka.
Later, due to Bangladesh Bank's objection, Sadia was forced to return Tk 24 lakh 37 thousand 500 on December 4, 2023. Not only that, at that time Nur also unethically appointed his son-in-law as the doctor of the complex. But he was working in government service. On the other hand, Nur appointed a 65-year-old retired district judge to the bank, ignoring any rules. Even the woman nominated by the Awami League government as Upezla Vice Chairman was given a job in Jamuna Bank.
Apart from this, Nur's corruption has spread to the contracting business of government construction projects by using the influence of the bank. The board and management authorities of the bank used unethical pressure to give loans to the contractors.
Nur used to work on their projects as a sub-contractor by making irregularities in the assessment of the loan of the contracting company. That is, he used to do business with bank money.
He was contacted several times by mobile phone to know about this but he did not receive the phone call.
(Translated by Tanvir Raihan)
