Rejoinder, our reply

Social Islami Bank Limited sent a rejoinder to a report published by The Daily Star on December 24 with the headline "Loan scams ate up Tk 92,261cr in 15 years: CPD". The rejoinder said the report carried "utterly untrue and baseless" information about the bank. Here are key assertions in the rejoinder:

The disputed information pertains to one of its clients Sharp Knitting and Dyeing. A few newspapers published a news report on alleged loan irregularities of the client on November 28 last year. The lender informed the Bangladesh Bank through a letter two days later and the newspapers published the rejoinder with the real picture and fact. However, it is pathetic that CPD did not update their information and presented this at a seminar.

Furthermore, CPD mentioned ghostly investments in Social Islami Bank, which is also absolutely baseless and untrue.

We firmly assert that Social Islami Bank never sanctioned any investment in favour of any ghostly entity, and all kinds of investment followed due diligence, compliance and approval of Board of Directors. It's disheartening that CPD overlooked our rejoinders, featured in newspapers, during its media briefing. This kind of inappropriate presentation of information has created confusion among the general public. We have already formally informed CPD in this regard.

Our Reply

The Daily Star did not mention the names of SIBL or Sharp Knitting and Dyeing in its report. It, however, included both names without elaboration in a chart supplied by CPD.

The research organisation prepared its study based on media reports on major banking irregularities from 2008 to 2023. In a clarification to The Daily Star, CPD said it has "followed a conventional research methodology and is confident about its analysis of and observations on the banking sector in general and SIBL in particular in this context".