The Farmers Bank has brought back Tk 1.92 crore which it paid illegally as office rent between September 2010 and March 2012, said officials of Bangladesh Bank.
The newly-launched bank on Monday sent a letter to the BB saying that it had recovered the money from a director of the bank, who is also the owner of the building that houses the bank, following central bank’s directives.
The BB slapped a fine of Tk 10,000 on Farmers Bank managing director Choudhury Moshtaq Ahmed on charge of illegal payment of Tk 1.92 crore as office rent in June this year.
The MD of the bank also paid the fine to the BB on Monday.
Farmers Bank had paid one of the directors of the bank, Azmat Rahman, Tk 1.92 crore as office rent even before the start of the operation of the organisation.
The bank’s headquarters is located at Jabbar Tower in the city’s Gulshan area. Azmat is the owner of the tower and is also a son of Mohammad Athar Uddin, another director and also vice-chairman of the bank, BB officials said.
The bank had paid Tk 3.07 crore as rent for the September 2010-March 2013 period although it had no operation before April 2012.
But the BB had asked the bank to pay office rent for 12 months (April 2012-April 2013).
Despite the BB objection, The Farmers Bank had paid the rent for 32 months.
So, the central bank had imposed financial penalty on the bank’s MD and asked the bank to recover excess amount of the office rent soon.
Former home minister and ruling Awami League leader Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir is the chairman of the bank.
-With New Age input
