Political leaders are seeking rescheduling of their default loans to be eligible to participate in the next general election. The leaders include members of parliament and former ministers. They have already contacted the concerned authorities of the commercial banks for updating their loan portfolios, sources in the banking sector said. The state-owned and private commercial banks are taking preparation to cash in on the opportunity for recovering their default loans. Under the existing rules, loan portfolios must be updated by those who want to contest in the parliamentary election. "At least five MPs -- three from ruling BNP and two from main opposition Awami League (AL) -- have already contacted us for rescheduling their loans," Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agrani Bank Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed told the FE. The Agrani Bank will follow the central bank's guidelines in recovering such loans, he said. Sources, however, added most of the politicians reschedule their default loans just before every general election but they do not contact the concerned banks after elections. A leading politician, who was a former minister, has already repaid Tk 10 million to a private commercial bank for rescheduling his loan portfolios. A cabinet member of the ruling coalition government has rescheduled his loans with a private commercial bank a few months back, the sources confirmed. "We are expecting some political leaders to contact the officials concerned for updating their loan portfolios," a senior official of a private commercial bank told the FE. He also said the concerned department of the bank has already been instructed to keep their records updated. A specialised bank has already directed its concerned department across the country to make a fresh list of defaulters for taking necessary measures to strengthen their recovery drive. "We have already instructed the officials concerned to update the list of defaulters for taking necessary measures for recovering the loans," a top official of a state-owned bank said.
|