Social Islami Bank PLC (SIBL), one of the banks under the merger process, has fallen into fresh controversy after its founder and sponsor director Dr Md Rezaul Haque resigned from the board on Sunday morning, citing years of irregularities and exclusion of original shareholders.
Rezaul told the TIMES of Bangladesh that the bank’s Memorandum of Association requires at least five directors on the board. “In that context, the current board is no longer valid,” he said.
The Bangladesh Bank, however, dismissed the claim.
“The Bank Company Act prevails over any memorandum or internal regulation,” Shahriar Siddiqui, acting spokesperson of the central bank, told TIMES. “The Act does not specify any minimum number of directors, so there is no question of the board being invalid.”
In his resignation letter to the chairman, Rezaul alleged that the bank had been plagued by mismanagement and that independent directors had drawn salaries and benefits “in violation of law”, while founding shareholders were denied any role. He said control of the bank shifted to S Alam Group, led by Saiful Alam Masud, after his forced resignation in 2017.
The letter also claimed that following a “takeover with state-agency backing,” SIBL went through seven years of irregularities and corruption until August 2024.
Rezaul wrote that founding shareholders had expected Bangladesh Bank to dissolve the previous board and return control to genuine entrepreneurs but that the authorities instead formed a new board of independent directors, which he called ineffective.
He concluded, “In this situation, I can no longer continue my duties. For the sake of the bank’s interest and my personal integrity, I am resigning.”
