Several loan defaulters who had their nomination papers cancelled can take part in elections by rescheduling loans. In this case, Bangladesh Bank is playing a significant role, already giving green signal to more than 200 loan defaulters. Until 28 November, the last date for the submission of nomination papers, 205 applications were approved by Bangladesh Bank. But the central bank did not respond to more than one dozen applications.
Former governor of Bangladesh Bank, Salehuddin Ahmed, told Bangla Tribune: “re-scheduling rises when elections come, those who are not candidates also exploit this chance.”
Central bank officials say that though the loans of a few hundred candidates were re-scheduled, during this time, a lot of default loan has also been recovered.
According to bank company law, any client can apply for re-scheduling for upto three times. On the first occasion, the lower amount between 15 percent of the arrear instalment or 10 per cent of the due has to be submitted.
In second and third terms, 30 per cent of instalment or 20 per cent of total amount and 50 per cent of instalment or 30 per cent of total amount need to be submitted.
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and executive director, Md. Sirajul Islam, says: “loan re-scheduling is a regular process in banking system.”
According to Bangladesh Bank, till June this year, the total default loan is Tk. 89 thousand 340 crore, which is 10.41 per cent of distributed loan.